


Hidden

by Ars_Matron



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alpha L (Death Note), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Collars, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Freedom Fighters, Gammas, Intersex Female Alphas, Intersex Male Omegas, M/M, Omega Light, Omega Oppression, Secret Identity, gammas are unpresented female alphas and male omegas, hidden identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2019-07-11 13:33:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 52,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15973346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ars_Matron/pseuds/Ars_Matron
Summary: All gammas are the same, seen as basically genderless they are raised equally before presenting as either alpha females or male omegas.Light Yagami never really cared about his gamma status until other's took notice. Fearful of spending life as a kept omega, Light will fight against anything, including his own instincts, to be seen as an alpha instead.But fighting one's dynamic isn't easy.Light just hopes it isn't impossible.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> NEW STORY!!! 
> 
> Hello dears!! Welcome to a brand new story!  
> Sometimes I get an urge to write a hidden identity, omega living as alpha, story. There are a few in Death Note already which was holding me back UNTIL I realized a great new twist!!
> 
> I've been really enjoying the wave of intersex omega works that have popped up in the YOI fandom. In the ABO discord server i'm a part of though a question usually comes up when we discuss intersex male omegas and female aphlas. "How do you tell them apart from birth?" I had no answer to this for a long time, until now!!  
> Enter Gammas!  
> This is the first time i've ever written the addition of a fourth dynamic, even if it's just the word for unpresented male omegas and female alphas. I know gammas are often something different in other stories, but this is what they are here, so that's all you need to know. Once gammas present they only considered alphas or omegas and take on the pronouns of their primary gender (he or she). Before that they are referred to as gender neutral pronouns. 
> 
> POSSIBLE SPOILERY TALK  
> Everything is in the tags but if you want to come back up after reading the story for this go ahead. 
> 
> In the first part Light is referred to as They/Them but after he knows what he is he will always be He, at least in his POV. After this chapter though everyone else will be referring to him as She/Her and he will be openly living as a girl. I really hope it isn't as confusing as it sounds when I type it all out like this  
> (*/。＼)  
> please let me know if you have any questions♡
> 
> I don't have a lot of the story planned out yet, just some scenes here and there, I'm really looking forward to seeing how it will grow as it goes on! And of course I'm very interested in what you guys might like to see in a story like this!
> 
> this is a very expositiony chapter. Next chapter we will have quite a time skip and we'll dive right into the meat of it!! 
> 
> I had meant to call the young alpha Eriko. I sometimes borrow names from the japanese people I went to college with and Eriko was one of them. What I wrote though was Eiko....like the final fantasy 9 character....I have chosen to not fix it, though it wasn't what I intended. 
> 
> I think that's it for this chapter. I really hope you guys enjoy it!!!

Light always knew they were different. 

As the child of alpha and local police chef, Soichirou Yagami, there were no shortages of outings and meet and greets where Light was expected to play nice with the children of other officers and state officials, no matter how tedious they were. Light’s mother Sachiko, a beta, was a homemaker and part time seamstress, and thus trips to the park so that Light could play with other children also happened on the regular. It didn’t take long in these outings for Light to see they weren’t exactly the same. 

Light was more observant than other children, for one. Often enough Light would approach a group of children who were about to perform some dangerous or foolhardy feat to inform them that their actions were going to result in failure and injury. Only to be scoffed at, and on several occasions pushed down by the other children before they went about their business. After which Light would sit in the sand and watch as the misfortune unfolded just as predicted. Completely obvious and avoidable.

Light eventually gave up, it was pointless to reason with the unreasonable. So let them be reckless, let them get hurt because they didn’t have enough sense to keep themselves alive. What did it matter to Light?

The second thing Light noticed was speed. They were far faster than any other child they played with. Games of chase would see Light so far ahead of their pursuer that Light would often wander off and find something more entertaining to do. When the other child found them nearly an hour later making a very large and rather impressive daisy chain, Light had just wanted to see how long a chain could actually be made. Well it was the other children’s own faults that they had taken too long and that Light didn’t want to play anymore. If they had wanted to catch Light they should have ran faster. 

Other things Light just noticed along the way, filing them in the back of their mind, but giving them little to no actual thought. Light had exceptionally good balance, they rarely fell from the climbing bars at the park. they could walk across thin beams with no trouble. And Light was an expert at tree climbing before the age of five. There wasn’t a tree within a ten mile radius of their house that Light had not climbed. Though an old oak out behind a nearby temple in their neighborhood was certainly their favorite. 

Light could easily read any situation that they came across. The children in particular were easy to understand, often wearing their emotions on their sleeves. They quickly learned to avoid the hot headed children in favor of the more even keeled crowd. 

All these things Light took in stride. They were the same as the fact that Light’s hair turned blond in the summer or that their eyes were more golden than brown. They were same as being ambidextrous, or having a preference for fruits instead of sweets. 

Which is to say, they had very little meaning at all. 

It wasn’t until Light was ten that they began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was a reason for some of those random and pointless things. That maybe it meant something when all of those random things were added together. 

It was nothing, really. Something so simple that Light hadn’t thought twice about it at the time. One day before the start of class Light had informed one of their classmates that they should probably go to the nurse, as Light thought they might be sick. That was all! An innocent observation. Silly even, to get all up in arms over. Light had suspected that this classmate was sick, and they had been right. When the nurse pulled Light aside later that day they had been expecting her to thank them for caring so much about a fellow student’s health. 

Not that Light did it out of any sort of concern for a fellow classmate, the boy had just smelled really bad and Light wanted him out of the room. 

Instead of thanking them the nurse had asked how Light had known that boy was sick, when Light said they could smell that Reiji wasn’t feeling well she had frowned, taken them roughly by the arm and lead them to her office. 

The rest of the day had been miserable. Light’s mother had taken on more work with both Light and Sayu in school, so she couldn’t just drop everything and come pick them up. Though why Light needed to be taken home they couldn’t understand. They had barely gotten close enough to Reiji to talk to him the odds of them being sick was very low. But no matter what Light said to the nurse she just shook her head and suggested that Light calm down. 

Light even had to eat in the nurse's office, and when she implied Light should be happy that they got a free day, all they could do was sigh and try not to snap. Light wanted to be in class! The thought that they were missing so much as a day was torture! Light had never missed a day before! 

Finally, thank god, Sachiko showed up. The nurse spoke very sternly to her as she explained that, it was too soon to tell for sure, but they needed to keep on eye on Light. They was ‘showing signs’ and today Light had done something very telling. They stood off to the side of the room with their heads together, whispering so that Light couldn’t hear their words. The smile Sachiko turned on Light was the same one she gave when Sayu got sick and Light asked if things would be okay. Her words were always reassuring, but it was clear that she was very worried.

Then Light heard it. Not for the first time, no. They had heard it many times before, and they would hear it a millions times after that day. But for some reason that was the day it clicked. The day the word became real. Something Light could touch and hold on to. A word with substance. It had the ability to break them. To claim them. To destroy them. 

Light would never forget the day the nurse told they mother she thought they were an omega. 

 

The silence in the care was painful, deafening. At least it felt that way to Light, Sachiko’s face never fell from her usual cheery smile. Light on the other hand couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t stop fidgeting or thinking. Omega….They were an omega. No...not they, not now that it was known for sure. Light was a boy, an omega. 

“I’m going to have to leave school.” Light said, finally breaking the awful silence. 

“No!” 

Light glanced up from his folded hands.. Sachiko was no longer smiling blandly, the determined scowl was so strange to see on such a usually placid woman. “You heard her, I’m an omega. Omegas don’t go to school.”

“She doesn’t know for sure.” Sachiko said in more even tones, rolling her shoulders back to straighten her spin. “She can’t make any sort of ruling, she can’t even call the school boards.”

“Not now maybe.” Light glared out the window. “It’s only a matter of time before we know for sure.” 

“We’ll see.” There was something dark in Sachiko’s voice, something that sent a thrill of anticipation down Light’s spine. Beta she might be, but in that moment she radiated sheer power like an alpha. “No one is taking my baby away from me.” She muttered low, almost to herself as she drove home with a white knuckled grip on the wheel.

Her stoic facade was back in place by the time they got home, Sayu would arrive shortly and then the three of them usually cooked together just before Soichirou walked through the door. On that day though Light squirreled away his bag before slipping out of the back door. The library was close, and he was still technically unpresented. There wasn’t anyone that could keep him from going to check out books. 

Not yet. 

There were many books on the dynamics, especially the development between alpha females and omega males. Before presenting the two were one, referred to as gamma, seen largely as being genderless they weren’t referred to by anything in particular and were allowed to find their own paths and preferences. Once presented, or in some cases once blood tests confirmed dynamics, the females pretty much carried on as usual, getting to live as alphas at the top of the food chain. Omegas were always taken out schools, never allowed out alone, and if it was deemed so by the state, were often relocated to a sanctuary or temple. 

Adult omegas could not leave their houses without their alphas, nor could they be out in public without a collar and wrist cuffs to keep their scents from reaching others. Omega scents were seen as almost obscene things. And that, was all Light knew about them. He had never actually seen an omega up close before, though sometimes he would see them walking around with their alphas. Those occurrences were very thorough.

He pulled several books on gammas, alphas and omegas from the shelves. And just for good measure he took down a few for betas. It wouldn’t hurt to be thorough in his research, and it might be a tad less damning to not seem too curious about any one dynamic.

The librarian raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing as she checked him out. So many times before Light had gone to this library, with the arches, tall windows, and the rows upon rows of comforting, dusty scented old books. So many times before this particular librarian checked him out, wished he a nice day. Yet this was the first time he ever realized she was an alpha. The first time he had ever taken stock what that actually meant, how exactly she was different from him.

Light spent that night researching everything he could about the different dynamics. What drove alphas to be stupid and reckless. Why betas were happy to follow them, hot headed knotheads though they were. 

The next day before his mother drove off she gave him a few strange and very strict orders. First and foremost was to not stand out. Second was to observe. Light thought that was a bit redundant, until he realized she didn’t mean in the distant way he had always been observant. She wanted him to watch the other kids, to learn to be like them. She kissed his head before leaving, telling him she would have a surprise when he got home. 

Dubious that she could do anything that would lift his mood, as after a night of research there wasn’t a single thing that lead him to believe the nurse had actually been wrong, he ducked his head anyway and went through his day. Nothing about the children were any different than before. They were still loud and stupid. Largely ignoring Light in favor of their escapades. The teachers though, acted rather strangely around him. It was obvious that the nurse to spread her concerns around to them. They moved closer to him than usual, stood by him and tried to not be conspicuous as they tried to parse out a scent that wasn’t there. Like every unpresented child he had but one scent, his was fresh like strawberries. He knew there was nothing else they could be scenting, but it made him fidgety and nervous all the same. 

At recess he watched the others play. A group of the larger children, comprised mostly of boys and gammas, were playing some game of risk where they would run up a the side of a wall as far as they could. Higher up, much higher than any of their heads, the smooth concrete wall turned into rough stone. Their goal, as far as Light could determine, was to reach far enough to get a good hold and then scale the wall. Something else that was impossibly dangerous, even if mossy grass would break their fall. Some few had managed to touch the stone divide, scraping their fingers in the process. One boy, not the largest by far but one of the lankiest, managed to actually hold on for several seconds before falling back to the mossy ground, ripping off a nail in the process. The whole thing turned Light’s stomach, but those around him cheered as the boy raised a hand in a show of pride. 

How barbaric. 

There were two other groups that the children could fall in. The ones that trailed behind the larger kids, usually observers who would on occasion break away to play safer if no less rambunctious games. Very few gammas joined this group, it was more an even mix of boys and girls of varying sizes. These were the children who raced around freely. The ones who frolicked in the fields and made elaborate games. Who threw balls, and jumped from swing sets, and screamed like banshees. Light had joined these children on occasion, been bored by their antics and usually ended up walking away. 

The last group, though sporting a few of the smaller boys, was mostly girls and the rest of the gammas. They were smaller, calmer. They planned their games well and injuries were almost completely unheard of. Light had spent many a day in their company, climbing trees where they enjoyed just basking in the sun reading or dreaming. They were the fastest runners, the best at hide and seek. And now, glaringly obvious, Light realized what else they probably were.

The omegas. 

When the girls and the gammas presented the boys would migrate to the others, the middle group, the betas. The gammas in the middle group now would either present as weaker alphas or stronger omegas….it was all so very, horribly, obvious. 

He was certain now that the nurse had been right. 

Light was silent when Sachiko came to get him that afternoon. It was odd for her to pick him up two days in a row, but Light figured it had to do with his impending status outing. They would probably take him of school soon, so what was even the point. Several times she tried to start conversations with him, only for Light gazed out the window, refusing to speak. 

They passes an alpha and omega couple on their way home. The alpha was large, towering over the much smaller omega. As fast as the car was going he could only take away a few key features. The delicate bone structure of the omega, and bulk of the alpha, long flowing raven hair next short severely cut silver. The possessive hold of the alpha as they crossed the road and the fact that the omega was pregnant. 

Long after they were out of the sight the dazzling flash of the jewels on the omegas collar flashed before his eyes. 

Once they were home nothing changed. There was no mention that he would be leaving school. His mother didn’t even say anything of the sort when Sorichirou came home. Nothing about how Light was an omega, nothing about how they needed to plan for his future. Things went on as though nothing had changed. It drove him crazy! Every time his father looked his way Light fidgeted and turned his gaze away. Afraid that if he looked his father in the eyes he would know. Like the word ‘OMEGA’ would somehow be printed in the air above his head. There for all to see so no one tried to treat him like a normal person any longer. 

Light hurried upstairs and hid away in his room as soon as he could get away from dinner. He lay on his bed in a pile of blankets that was not a nest….it simply wasn’t! Silent and in the dark he worked up the courage for what needed to be done. He couldn’t keep on going the way he was, he couldn’t go back to school now. Not knowing that he would be banned from there in a year or so. Better to leave now. Get the whole thing over with quick. It would be less painful that way. 

And maybe, when he was older, he would be given to an alpha that took him for walks outside. One who hopefully had a better sense of fashion and wouldn’t make him wear gaudy jewels. 

Soft tapping at his door brought him out of his morbid musings, in which he had been confined to a room, pregnant, with hulk of an alpha looming over him. Sachiko opened the door and hurried in, then she did something rather strange. She closed the door so soft it made no noise at all, and she locked it behind her.

“Come on, honey, in the bathroom, now!” She didn’t wait for Light to answer, simply stalked into the adjoined bathroom and flicked on the lights.

Curiously Light stood and followed her. He stayed back, clutching the door frame as she pulled a small box from the pocket of her apron. With steady hands she shook out the contents onto the counter top, pulling out a piece of folded paper she began reading, muttering under her breath. 

Light took up the discarded box, on the clean white cardboard was a picture of the alpha and omega symbols with a very basic description on the back. Dynamic Test Kit. “I thought the nurse said it was too soon.”

Sachiko looked up from her task of sorting the test kit to give him a tight smile. “This is a new test, the schools don’t use these yet.”

“Mom?” mildly horrified, Light watched stunned as she pulled out and opened a new syringe. “How do you know about this...how did you get the money for it?” Dynamic tests weren’t cheap, it was better to let your insurance cover it. Or that was what his father had always said. Maybe he just didn’t want to know any sooner than the doctor’s recommended. Maybe Soichirou was afraid that Light would be an omega as well. 

“Don’t worry about that right now. Come here, hold out your arm.” 

Sachiko worked with needles in her professional life as a seamstress, but that didn’t mean she knew her way around something of the hypodermic variety. Light winced at the sharp pinch, then pull of his blood being drawn. She took the needle out and immediately pressed a folded piece of gauze to his arm. “Hold that down now, go sit on the side of the tub, run a bath.” 

Light nodded and did as she said without question. The scent of blood carried, alphas were particularly susceptible to it. He took up a bottle of rose scented bubble bath and tipped a very generous amount into the running water. “Dad doesn’t know?”

“No. And he doesn’t need to, understand.” She sighed, straightening up from leaning over the counter to drip the blood carefully into the separate test tubes. She took a few deep breaths, her homey scent, that always reminded him of fresh baked pies, thickened, calming him. She knelt in front of him running her hands through his shaggy hair to cup his face. “Whatever it says, I’ll take care of it. You aren’t going to be taken out of school, you won’t be taken from home. I promise. Just trust me.”

Light nodded as she kissed his forehead and went back to the tests. Ignoring his mother’s presence as much as he could Light took off his clothes and slipped into the warm water. His arm had stopped bleeding, but he still needed to wash off any hint of dried blood. Their secret wouldn’t last very long if his father rushed in to see why Light was injured.

Light smirked as he regarded his mother with new eyes. Plain, unassuming beta, and she was doing something that could possibly be considered illegal. Right under the nose of her police chief, alpha husband. 

She was full of surprises. 

Five minutes ticked away with Light in his bath and Sachiko pacing before the bathroom door. Then ten. Then Twenty. At the thirty minute marker Sachiko glared at the test on the counter, hand over her mouth, unmoving. 

He didn’t have to ask what it said. 

“It’s okay….really.” It was odd in that moment to realize he meant it. It had only been two day since the idea really formed, but already he knew had accepted it. He ten years old, and his life was over. 

For a few more silent moments she simply stared at the test, though her scent was still calm it had began to change. Subtle at first, a sort of hardening crispness that made Light’s nose burn. When she turned to Light she was smiling brightly. “You’re right. It will be. We just have to be careful.” She quickly knelt by the side of the bath, running a soothing hand through Light’s hair. “I’ve been preparing for this, ever since you were born. Just leave everything up to mommy, my love.”

After that things began to change. It was nothing big at first. Sachiko told him to make friends with the reckless children. Push his way in and make sure they knew he belonged. It was wrong, it rubbed something within him that he had only just started to pay attention to. The thing that said he should be careful and calm. That he should spend his time in creative or intellectual pursuits just for himself and not because it was what others wanted. This little voice within him didn’t care about recognition, it didn’t care about being brave or strong. All it wanted was peace. 

Pushing it down was painful at first, like a physical ache. His skin itched, every nerve prickled down his spine. But the day after taking the dynamic test Light didn’t sit in the trees with the other like before. At recess he passed the group of children playing catch, he passed the ones who just jumped rope, or skipped, or ran, or sang silly songs. Instead he made his way to the larger kids, the ones who were still trying to scale the wall. The ones who wore bruises and cuts and other more grievous injuries like badges of honor.

They stopped in their game as he approached, eyeing him warily. They had not, as Light had come to realize in the past few days, notice that he was different. It was odd for him to be there, but only because Light had never joined them before. They had never done anything to shun him though. There was little malice to be had between the groups. Only the unspoken rule that once you found your group you would not leave it. No one ever broke that rule. Not ever. 

Light took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders to his full height, which he only then realized was so much smaller than anyone else in this group. He looked to the wall, to the roughened stone so far up...but not nearly as high as a branch from his favorite tree. And he could jump and grab that with no trouble. Suddenly he was laughing, honestly laughing. The others stared at him with odd looks. Eiko, another gamma, crossed their arms over their chest, glaring down at him. Oh was she tall, fore surly she would be an alpha. But in that moment her looming demeanor didn’t even bother him. 

Nothing they could say or do would bring him down from this particular high. The realization that these children, the alphas and greater betas, were so envious of skills that the omegas and lesser betas actually excelled at. Light was the fastest runner in the other two groups. Light could climb a tree with a surer grip than anyone else. Light, an omega, had the skills these alphas and betas craved. The only thing was, he didn’t want to use them in such a boisterous and reckless way. 

Smiling still, he faced the wall and ran. 

Light’s smaller size and swiftness had him up the wall in no time, he grabbed for the edge of a stone when it came into sight and held on tight. Once his grip was sure, his much smaller fingers fitting into gap easily, he began to climb. 

He didn’t look down, and he didn’t worry about how he could get back to the ground. Now that he was up he was on his own. He couldn’t ask for help, not like when Miko had climbed to high in the tree the past week and she had asked Light to help her down and of course he had. Sometime people needed help, and that was okay. Now though, asking for help would only prove he didn’t belong with them. He had to find his own way, show he was brave and strong and just as skilled as they were...if not more. 

The stones went all the way to the low flat roof so Light simply pulled himself up when he reached it. He would think of a way down once he had time to look around. The children he’d left behind were now gaping up at him, even a few from his usual group were looking over in wonder. 

There was no ladder, nor was Light able to lift the latch on the one door that he hoped would lead him back into the main building. No trees reached this high, and simply jumping off, though reckless enough to assure him a stop among them, was definitely out of the question. 

“Hey, Light!” 

Light peeked over the side at Eiko, expecting her to be mocking of him. What sort of alpha got stuck on roofs? He was outed for sure now! Except that Eiko was smiling and pointing to a group next to her. Some of the tallest in the group were huddled together, arms interlocked, all looking at up with expectant grins. Light returned them with a grin of own. He couldn’t ask for help, but he would take what was offered. Besides.

What was more reckless than jumping off a roof into a group of people you weren’t even sure would actually be able to catch you?

After another, much smaller, running start. Light dove off of the roof. 

The instant before he fell, that weightless moment, surrounded by nothing but air, was simply terrifying. If his instincts had been angry before, they were screaming now as every nerve began to burn. Then he was falling. Falling was no better. He was so sure they would not catch him. Already he was planning what he would say to the teachers and his mother when they had to send him to the hospital. 

If nothing else, he would have accomplished the goal Sachiko set out for him. 

The air knocked out of his lungs as he crashed into several pairs of arms. He barely heard the cheering through the rush of blood in his ears as his heart tried to break free of his chest. He had done it, and he still lived!

Eiko came up behind him and slapped him hard on the back. “Well, Yagami, why’d you decide to join us today.” Her grin was huge, there was nothing but joy in her eyes, the others gathered around them, just as eager to hear Light’s reasons.

He gave Eiko the steadiest smirk he could muster. His skin hurt, his nerves were burning, all he wanted was to get away and hide somewhere quiet and dark. He gathered every bit of bravado that he could muster, hoping he came across as cocky and not like he felt. Sick. “I’ve been watching you idiots try to climb this wall all week. You’re lack of skill was starting to get on my nerves.” Light tossed his glossy hair out of his face, ignoring the pang that formed in his chest at his words. He let his gaze run lazily over the others. “Really, either find something easier to do, may I suggest playing with dolls, or learn to climb better.” With a final flip of his head, Light stalked off, leaving the group behind to gawk at him. 

He probably should have stayed. Made his move to be the leader now that he had knocked Eiko down a peg. But it was his first day of being an alpha, and it was much harder than he had expected. His nerves were beyond frayed, his stomach was rolling, and white specs danced in the corner of his vision. Laying down wasn’t an option though. Hiding wasn’t an option. The other kids were all watching now. Even the teachers were watching, it was them most of all that Light needed to fool. Children were fickle, in a month they would forget this if he didn’t keep the charade up. The teacher, on the other hand, they would harder to convince that he was an alpha. They would not forget this day, and they would be watching to make sure his new personality didn’t flag back into the pattern of an omega. 

“Light, wait up!” 

Sighing internally Light slowed then stopped. He couldn’t pretend to be interested in what Eiko wanted, through his misery all he could do was effect a blank, indifferent glare. “Eiko?” 

“We were wondering if you wanted to hang out.” It was then that Light realized that the others had followed her like the little lost puppies that they were. She fidgeted under his gaze. His! Light Yagami, who was nearly a foot shorter than her even at age ten. 

Before he could open his mouth to respond though the bell rang, and Light managed a real smile. Just in time! “We’ll see.” He turned his back on her once more and headed for the door. 

Hopefully his bravado wouldn’t be too much for her ego. She may not know it but he had hedged the whole spectacle in the hopes that she would open her arms to him. He was years behind in being dominate and loud, he needed to make up a lot of time quick. He wouldn’t ‘see’ about joining them. The next day he was going to so engross himself in their group it would be like he had always been there with them. Light needed to make himself expendable to her and her friends. 

Somehow he managed to get through the day without humiliating himself or actually getting sick. He was quieter than normal through class, his focus slipped several times and by the time the final bell rang his head was pounding from more than just his daring excursion. He could easily make up any missed coursework over the coming weekend, that wasn’t as big a concern as realizing he simply may not be capable of pulling this off. 

Omegas were the calm ones, the ones who liked to keep out of the limelight. Seen as weaker for their lack of audacity and recklessness. And until that day, Light had assumed it was simply something that alphas and betas said to keep omegas in check. Condition an entire dynamic into believing that their happiness relied on serving others, that following alpha commands were not only satisfactory, but required to maintain good health. It was hard to challenge something the whole of society believed in. He had expected that fighting his dynamic might be difficult. That stepping out of the comfort of the trees and books and well mannered games might make him a bit uncomfortable. 

What he hadn’t been expecting was for it to hurt so much.

From that day on though he pushed past all the discomfort, all the instincts telling him to back down. Everyday it got a little easier to ignore. His skin itched a little less. He was able to keep his lunch down and managed to eat dinner as well, as the nausea ebbed with the pain. Each day brought him closer to assuring his freedom from a predetermined half as a mated omega.

It was six months after that first trial that Light earned his first broken bone. At a birthday party for one of his father’s co-worker’s children Light had quickly found himself in the thick of the larger children’s games. Thanks in part to Mizumi, a girl Light was pretty sure would be a beta, who often tagged along in his group at school. She was good friends with the girl who’s birthday it was, and quickly introduced Light to her other friends. The birthday girl’s older brother had a dirty bike, and there was plenty of open space in the woods by the house for the kids to take the bike on a little ride. So they broke away from the main party, sneaking the bike from its stand without being seen.

Light didn’t want to do it. But then he hadn’t wanted to climb the building, he hadn’t wanted to jump off either. He hadn’t wanted to do any of the things these kids did to seem brave and bold. So he took a deep breath, put on the smuggest smirk he could muster, called them all cowards, and was the first to take the bike down the dusty, hilly, path. 

It was a stupid mistake, a failure to turn to miss a large stone he hadn’t seen in time. Thanks to his small size Light was pitched from the bike quite a ways, before landing on his shoulder with a sickening pop. 

There was pain, he wouldn’t lie. But after six months of living in near constant agony, it really wasn’t that bad. By the time someone came back with the adults, Light’s parents in the lead, He was already walking back up the hill all on his own. 

The adults were shocked at Light’s calm demeanor. Breaking an arm didn’t even seem to phase him. He even made a little joke about biting off more than he could chew as they loaded him into a car to the hospital. 

That night, as Light was tiptoeing down the stairs for a glass of water, he passed his father’s study. The light was still on and Soichirou’s deep voice carried out into the hall. “Sorry for the disturbance today. I hope no harm was done.” 

As quietly as he could, Light peeked around the corner, Soichirou was on the phone, his large back to the doorway. He laughed softly at something on the other end. “Yes,” There was pride in his voice at whatever had just been said. He hummed in agreement before saying in satisfaction. “You’re right, Light and the others were just being kids. You know how young alphas are.”

Light stood there for several seconds not believing his ears. Alpha! His father though he was an alpha! Forgetting his mission for water Light hurried back upstairs. He needed to find his mother, tell her the good news. 

It was time they began planning the future they wanted. As from that day on Light knew he had to stop being gamma, and take up the role of alpha for good.


	2. The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor

 

Light rose before his alarm could sound. He rose before the sun pinkened the sky, when all was still and silent out. Over the course of his life Light had come to love this time of day. Before the masses woke and it was just him and other early risers. And the insomniacs too, he supposed. 

He turned the alarm off on his phone. It never got the chance to ring, but the cautious part of Light wouldn’t let him shut it off for good. It was better to keep it on, just in case his internal clock ever decided to let him down. There was far too much he needed to do in order to get ready for his day that the risk simply didn’t outweigh in inconvenience. 

Light’s schedule had been honed over the years, refined until there wasn’t a moment of wasted time. He learned quickly growing up that if he was going to present a perfect, flawless front, he had to make sure every little detail was seen to. Above all he had to be certain that not even the smallest crack remained. He was Yagami Light, alpha. And there needed to be no question about it.

Light began his day the same as always, by clicking on the radio to play the news. He wasn’t always assured time during the day to stay up on current events. Breaks had never been a sure thing, first through his schooling and now as a lawyer, his days were rather go, go, go.

His apartment was modern, though small. The size didn’t really bother him though, it wasn’t like he was home long enough to really care about space. What he did care about were little speakers that ran through each room of the apartment, allowing him to walk from room to room without missing a single word from the radio. 

In a daze Light trudged to the second bedroom turned workout room and began his his carefully honed morning routine. Forty five minutes on the treadmill and fifteen minutes stretching, then it was off to the shower. It was considered ‘proper’ for alphas to mask most if not all of their scent, especially in a career like the one Light had chosen, very carefully and for just that reason. When in court it was required that one’s scent be masked so as to keep the jury and witnesses as calm and clear headed as possible. There were only a few beta lawyers, and headstrong alphas often couldn’t, or wouldn’t if you asked Light, keep their scents to themselves. 

Of all the professions that enticed Light though, this was the safest one. It never fell to muscle in a courtroom. Overstepping boundaries was grounds for dissent and punishable. Honestly, it was the perfect place for someone like him. No matter who much had ached to go into detective work like his father. But Light had spent enough time around the NPA to know that, not only did cops often ‘forget’ to mask their scents, he had witnessed on more than one occasion a dispute coming down to a dominance battle. 

Something that Light would never be able to win. 

Even Light’s shampoo was equipped with scent blcokers, only the faintest hint of mint lingered as he rinsed it out. Then he went through the tedious process of drying and styling it. At age eleven, Light had begun to grow out his hair. He never cut it above his shoulders and took great care in keeping his shiny and straight and golden. 

He got fewer looks that way. 

There was nothing he could do about his bone structure or height. Nothing beyond wearing heels at least five inches tall and making sure all his dress suits had extra padding at the shoulders. Every inch he’d grown as a child had been a triumph, marked proudly on the wall, that much closer to blending in and fewer uncomfortable questions sent his way. But by the time he was nineteen Light had to face the facts. He would never be taller than five foot five on his own. A good height for a male omega, but rather short for a female alpha. Not the shortest ever recorded, certainly. Light had done his research and had plenty of example of short female alphas than himself….should anyone ever think to comment on it. 

The sun was up by the time Light stepped from his bedroom, his makeup done to perfection and his dark grey dress suit immaculately pressed. The city had finally begun to wake. The soft shush of rushing cars drifted through the windows, today accompanied by the gentle patter of softly falling rain. 

In the kitchen Light measured out the correct portion of coffee beans, glossy and aromatic, to begin grinding while water heated in the kettle. The grounds bubbled and foamed as Light gentled tipped boiling water to drip through the grounds and into the glass carafe, releasing a tantalizing and invigorating aroma that filled the kitchen.

It was the best part of his day

Wrapping his hands around his favorite mug Light perched on a bar stool and looked out onto the city below. Nothing really set in for him until he could have at least a few sips of coffee in the morning. Everything before that was just noise and running on autopilot. But with the first velvety sip, Light’s world began to take proper shape. 

“The renowned omega specialist was taken from his Tokyo home this morning on multiple charges of reckless endangerment of an omega, as well as several more accounts of practicing illegal medicine.” The morning newscaster’s voice was smooth and melodic as he read off the details. Light perked up immediately. 

What doctor? He hadn’t caught their name. He quickly turned the radio up before grabbing his phone to look for details. 

“Not to mention the charges being pressed by several of the alphas who’s omegas were under this quack’s care.” the co-host piped up, quite cheery at the prospect. “Does it say anything about what this guy was doing.”

“Yeah,” The first jock said with a soft shuffle, either from papers or just moving in the studio. “The full statement released by the NPA is, Doctor Hatori Hideo was arrested after it was found that he was not only administering birth control and abortion inducing drugs to his patients. Which really is bad enough.” He gave a little nervous laugh.

“Right!” His co-host commiserated. 

“But, a further look into his files shows that he was helping at least one newly presented omega hide their presentation. Effectively suppressing that they were an omega at all….I’m not even sure how that would work at all. How do you keep an omega from having their heats?” 

“I’ve heard of them getting suppressants,” The second jock chimed in again. “If there’s risk, like an illness or injury.”

“Yeah, yeah. From the sounds of it, that isn’t this.”

Light sighed as they continued to chatter about things they knew nothing about. The jocks were an alpha and beta male, neither had experience with omegas of any kind...Light listened to their show enough to know neither of them had mates. The doctor wasn’t Light’s. Thank whatever gods watched over this wretched earth for that. Though he had heard of him before. Light’s own doctor had referred a few patients to Doctor Hatori before, he’d even told Light if something went wrong, if she was ever found out and in trouble, that Light was to go to Hatori for his treatments. 

Not that she knew his name was Light, she knew nothing about his personal life. It was how she would keep him and the few others like him safe. 

Hopefully Doctor Hatori had the same system in place for his own patients. 

Light downed the rest of his coffee, grimacing at the waste. He would normally sit around for another hour luxuriating in the brew before finally packing up to go into work. He hardly even tasted it that morning as he scooped up his keys and raced down the steps to his car, heels clicking on the meta grated steps. 

Light wanted this case. There would be many lawyers in his firm, all of them alphas, who would be reaching for it with greedy hands, and Light wanted to be there first! 

There was a fancy pour over coffee shop a few blocks from the firm that Light stopped at first. The head of the law firm, Sasaki Uda, was particularly fond of it, to the point that mid morning runs to the shop were now an obsession of his. Even though it was basically what Light had just made for himself, only ten times the price, he placed his order before speeding off once more. Prized coffee sitting smugly in his car. 

Sasaki san was not above taking bribes. Which usually was something Light would find distasteful. If he hadn’t used it several times to keep innocent people from serving jail time in the past...and hopefully now as well. 

The halls were empty. No sound other than just the sharp click, click, click of Light’s patent leather heels on the cold stone floors greeted him as he pushed through the front doors. Coffee in hand Light rounded the corner to elevator banks, already running through his head how he would approach Sasaki san. His perfectly constructed fantasies crumbled, however, as a dark figure entered an elevator before him. Just before the doors closed he met Light’s eyes, gave a visible jump, and stuck his arm out for the doors. “Good morning, Yamagi san. Heading up?”

Light paused for just a moment, schooling his expression back to one of calm from his moment of anger. He picked up his pace to get into the elevator, brushing his long golden hair over his shoulder. “Good morning, Mikami san.” Light greeted in the same overly formal tone Teru had used, ignoring the way Teru’s eyes scanned every inch of Light when he thought Light wasn’t looking. From his heels, up his long slender legs to the hem of his grey skirt just above his knees. His eyes lingering just a moment on the pop of red silk that peeked out of Light’s suit jacket. 

Light knew that Teru found him attractive. The only thing holding him back from propositioning Light was the social stigma he would face. Two alphas together, though welcome in some cultures, was frowned on in Japan. Light had done everything in his power to make sure the other alpha’s knew he did not care to have any sort of relationship with them. As clandestine relationships still happened despite everyone wanting to pretend otherwise. It was still something everyone knew. 

What else was there to gossip about in the break room.

“I’m surprised to see you here so early, Mikami san.” Light’s eyes flashed down to the small brown bag in Teru’s hands. “You must have gotten up quite early.” Teru lived in the suburbs where rent was cheaper. It wasn’t that Light hadn’t expected him to be there, champing at the bit for the chance to be a part of this case. He had hoped though that having to take the trains in would mean that Light would get a head start on him. 

Teru flushed, looking down at the little brown bag clutched in his hands. Though he was much, much larger than Light, Teru was always flustered in his presence. As though he saw Light as being the dominant one...Funny how, devoid of scent, many alphas felt that way around Light. “I know you heard of the omega doctor….” He trailed off, cutting his hooded eyes to Light for just a moment before fixing them back on the floor once more. 

Light nodded. “Yes. I expected you to be here for it too, Teru. You don’t need to play shy with me.” The doors opened on the top floor, without even looking back Light sauntered out. Teru could make a good case for why he should the one representing the doctor. He would play his mother’s death so quickly it would probably give Light whiplash. Everyone knew Teru’s omega mother had died due to neglect….There was no way the doctor would get a fair trial with Mikami Teru at his side. 

Light rapped on the open door of Sasaki’s office. All the lamps were on, the sun not quite risen enough to help illuminate the space. Papers littered the large cherry wood desk in the centre of the room, and Sasaki Uda was pacing back and forth before it. His short jet black hair, usually smoothed back neatly, floated freely around his head. This, Light had expected, Uda wasn’t the best when it came handling stressful situations.

“Sasaki san,” Light called softly when his knocking went unnoticed. Uda looked up, regarding Light with a puzzled expression, as though unsure what sort of apparition he was seeing. “I’ve brought you coffee, Sasaki san. Oh,” Light glanced over his shoulder with a smile. “And Mikami san is here too.”

“Yagami, Mikami!” Uda shook himself, a smile cracked his dark facade, like the lifting of a storm cloud. “Oh, just the two I needed. Come in, come in!” 

Light stode confidently across the dark maroon carpet, placing the coffee in the one clean spot on Sasaki’s desk before taking one of two seats before Uda’s desk, making himself perfectly at him in Uda’s office. Teru on the other hand, more shuffled than walked, timidly setting his little bag down next to Light’s coffee before huddling in the other chair. Light’s smirk only increased, even after all these years. In a room full of alphas, it was rare that Light had to act as the lesser. 

Sasaki sat back in his large leather chair, maroon, just like his floors and his hideous drapes. He snatched up the coffee and took several large gulps before sighing and finally looking at them with something like his usual vigor. “You both heard the news? Good. We’re in a bit of pickle. Not only have we been contacted to represent this doctor Hatori, but several of the alphas know people in the frim and want representation as well.”

“Why not just drop the doctor?” 

Light whipped his head around at Teru’s interjection. He had not expected Teru to speak out of turn. He flushed under Light’s gaze, but he didn’t back down. Light rolled his shoulders and tried to act unaffected. It wasn’t as though he held any stock with the dominant alpha nonsense….but just this once, Light wanted Teru to keep quiet. 

If Sasaki noticed the little show between them, he didn’t show it. Instead he took another gulp of coffee and sighed in exasperation. “Because we have to do a certain amount of Pro Bono work for the state, and we’ve been requested for this one by name. Seems Chief Yagami thinks it’s right up our alley.” He shot Light a brilliant smile. They received many a case straight from the NPA, in part, due to Light’s connections. Something Uda more than enjoyed, and often bragged about to the competition. 

Sasaki’s eyes finally landed on Teru’s little brown baggie, he pulled it over examining the violet logo with a raise brow. “Haru’s? Very nice.”

Teru gave a small but proud smile. “Two cherry and orange scones. I know they’re your favorite.”

Uda sat the bag back down with a sigh, he stretched back in his chair, massaging his temples. “Here’s what we have to do. Mikami, you take on the alphas. We have to keep them happy, and I think you can bring a level of sympathy to them that other’s just won’t get.” He didn’t look at Light, but it was easy to assume that, due to their vastly different upbringings, Light just didn’t have the same level of….desperation, that Teru exuded. 

Light didn’t take it as an insult.

“Light,” Uda sat up, piercing Light with a hard look. “You get to take on the doctor.” Then his tough facade cracked and he gave Light a mischievous smile. “Do say hi to your father for me. Oh and, be careful, I hear the detective working this case is a right pain in the ass.”

Light smirked as he rose to follow Teru from the room. “I think we both know they are the one that should be worried.”

Back in the elevator Teru was sullen. As much as Light didn’t really care if Mikami Teru was happy, it would be a poor start to the case to have Teru being pissy for not getting the position he wanted. Fixing a kind smile on his face Light turned to him. Thanks to his heels he was nearly on even footing with Teru, and it was times like these he was happy about the few inches of difference. 

Let Teru feel like the big bad alpha....if only in size….if only for a while. It did Light no harm.

“Teru,” Light began, voice soft, completely devoid of any command or dominance. Not that Light’s voice actually worked in such a way. Really, no one even paid attention! “You should be proud of the position you were given. I couldn't do it, that’s for sure.” One afternoon with cocksure alphas who tried to claim their mates as property and Light would just walk out.

It had happened before. 

Teru nodded blandly. “I guess one of us had to play babysitter….of course it would be me.”

Light shook his, trying hard to keep smiling and not just sigh at Mikami’s foolish outlook. “This is a big case. It’s going to go nationwide, if not further. An omega specialist that was doing harm, or at the very least, performing illegal practices on omegas….Sasaki san needs the best of the best to keep it from blowing up.” Light brushed at lock of stubborn hair back from his face and gave Teru a glittering smile. “We both know you have more patience for that sort of work than I do.”

When Teru smiled Light knew he’s gotten him. Smoothing over all the rough spots on Teru’s ego had become something of an art for Light over the years. It made life working along the man easier, not to mention if he was pacified, he didn’t mind always being second to Light for cases. It was a delicate act of praise when needed, sympathy when it was called for, or finding a common enemy that drove Teru’s focus away from Light if either of those failed. 

Uda was getting on in years, and Light wanted to make sure only one name came up when he was looking to pass the torch. 

“Have you heard who’s leading the investigation?” Teru asked softly as the doors chimed and they stepped out onto their floor. Light’s office was just across from Teru’s, albeit slightly larger and with a fantastic ocean view. 

Light shook his head as he checked his phone. Not even a message from his mother yet, though she had to be the one to suggestion passing the case to Light to Soichirou. “I Honestly don’t know much yet besides what was being broadcast all over the news this morning. I’m just going to get my recorder and head to the jail.”

“Well, I think Sasaki san was right about watching out for him. He’s the best. Supposedly he’s been tracking cases like this one for over a year.”

Light couldn’t stop a little laugh that bubbled through him. The best detective was L, and there was no way someone who focused on murder cases was going to drop everything for some measly omega protection nonsense. The city would be in arms for a week or two over the gall of this terrible doctor, calling for his death or castration, or whatever knew torture they could think of. Then something else terrible would happen and the crazed citizens would turn their grimy gazes to it.

Light was only there to make sure a man, whom from what he could tell only wanted to help his patients, wasn’t completely destroyed before Light could get him free. 

And absolutely no one needed to know Light’s motive besides the doctor and himself. And well...Sachiko. 

It had started to rain in true by the time Light made it to the parking garage, traffic would be a bitch but since he literally had nothing else to do besides go and meet his client, it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. At least until he was stuck behind a painfully slow black car, which he ended up following all the way to the NPA. 

He drummed impatiently on the steering wheel until he was finally able to peel away from the moron taking a morning cruise to the police station. Probably a member of some criminal’s family there for visitation, it didn’t even look like they were turning into the parking lot, just dropping someone off at the door….

Light shook his head and took a deep steadying breath. He needed to be calm for this meeting. Try to get the doctor to talk. Light needed to make sure he understood his rights, make sure him knew he didn’t need to say anything to the detective out of court of without Light there to help him through it. Assure him that Light was going to do everything he could to make this as painless as possible. 

And if Light played his cards just right, he’d be able to tip off some of doctor Hatori’s patients. Maybe give them his doctor’s info. Finding out how deep doctor Hatori’s practice was was the first step. There was a difference between suppressing heats and actively helping an omega live as another dynamic, despite what the morning jockeys were saying Light wasn’t going assume anything until he actually got in the room with Hatori. 

Light parked in a spot reserved for his firm and headed straight to the main desk. Of the three receptionist only one was open. And just Light’s luck it was Kumiko, who always gave Light moon eyes. Her interest in Light was neither subtle nor wanted. But he had become used to working around her...she was far from the only beta who had tried to catch his eye through the years. 

Light gave a small, undetectable sigh before sauntering up to the counter, draping an arm on the pale stone to lean his cheek against his hand. He got Kumiko’s attentions instantly, as well as drawing a long, appreciative gaze from the dark haired alpha speaking with the next receptionist down.

“Good morning, Kumiko san.”

“Oh Light. I…” She stuttered, trying to hide her blush behind a stack of papers she hastily began to straighten. “I mean, ah, Yagami san. Good morning. Your father said to expect you.” 

“Yeah, I’m sure he did.” Light muttered under his breath, pulling his phone from his pocket to check it once more. There was still nothing from either of his parents. It was rather unlike them to not give him a heads up on these sorts of things. 

“They’re on the seventh floor. I’m not sure which interrogation room, but I’m sure they’ll let you know when you get there.” Her cheery voice brought him out of his musings.

Light flashed her a bright smile. “Thanks, Kumiko.” 

“Oh, a...Light?” She said hesitantly as he stepped away from the desk. “Um…” She blushed prettily before choking out. “You look very lovely this morning.”

Light’s smile softened into something a little more genuine. Betas were a strange breed. If she knew the truth he doubted he would get the same shy girl who batted her eyes and blushed for him. Not all betas revelled in the power they could hold over omegas, but he had seen enough to know that many did. Their commands were not nearly as powerful as an alpha, and without his heels and padded jacket Light was probably close enough to her in size that should could easily gain an upper hand physically if she wanted. If she knew, she could make Light submit her. 

She didn’t know. She saw him only as an alpha. Dominant, wealthy, important. And thus, in her mind, Light wasn’t someone she could control, but a potential mate. She was always unfailingly polite, not to mention flirtatious. In her own clumsy way. Despite himself, Light found it a little cute. 

Too bad Light wasn’t interested in her attempts. 

With half a mind he fed her some cheesy line about how she lit up the room before breezing through security and disappearing into an elevator. The doors closed, cutting off the gazes of everyone in the lobby like the snapping of a tangible thread. The NPA’s lobby was always full this time of morning. Even in his disguise, even after so many years, he still feared someone would see through it. That dangling himself in the middle of a room full of detective was just asking for someone to find him out.

He took a deep, calming breath, rolling his shoulders and fixing his reflection in the metal doors with a stern glare. He was Yagami Light. He was the best lawyer in his firm and he was going go in there and help this Doctor pick up the pieces of his life and see that the rest of his patients were taken care of. 

Nothing was going to stop him. 

“What do you mean I can’t go in?” 

The desk on the seventh floor was manned by a beta male who, unlike Kumiko, didn’t turn into a giggly and over excitable mess when Light entered the room. Instead he looked up at Light with dull, uninterested eyes. Sighing, he pulled up something on the large computer screen before him. “Chief Soichirou was leading the case-”

“Was?” Light cut him off sharply. “What do you mean, ‘was’?”

The beta, who was not wearing a nametag nor had any identification on his desk gave Light a hard glare before turning back to the screen, continuing as if he had not heard Light at all. “Until early this morning when the investigation was taken over by an outside source that thinks it’s connected to more cases that have been popping up all over the world. This organization has clearance from the Prime Minister and the Emperor. So-”

“What does this have to do with me seeing my client.” Light gritted out. “Unless I was removed from his case without being informed. Though since I was appointed by the state, I feel that isn’t the case.” Or so he hoped. Technically his firm was appointed, not him by name, and they were only given the case because the Chief was his father. Not that it would appear on any records in such a way. In true, the case could be taken from him in the blink of an eye. 

Light was just hedging that it hadn’t been.

“No, you’re still cleared as his lawyer.” The betas said in a bored voice. 

 

“Then. Let. Me. See. Him.”

“But you can’t go in right now. He’s scheduled to meet with the detective when he arrives and-” 

Light held up a hand to forestall him. “Is the detective here yet? No.” Light supplied at the lazy shake of the beta’s head. “Then I’m going in. He has rights, if I find out you’re obstructing justice I will have your job.” 

The beta took a few more seconds looking over Light before sighing again and handing him a clipboard to sign in with. “He’s in interrogation room number three. It down-”

“I know where it is.” Light bit out, slapping the board down much harder than was needed. He stalked off towards the interrogation rooms, sending his father a quick message about the beta at the desk. 

Putting the unpleasant encounter behind him Light took a deep breath before pushing the door open to room three and going in. 

Doctor Hatori Hideo was cuffed to the small metal table in the dim room, his hands clasped together and his head down as though in great thought. The room, like all of its kind, was sterile. The concrete floors and walls void of any decoration to focus on, or soft or porous texture that would hold scent. Allowing no escape for the harsh pheromones of his interrogators when they arrived. Light’s scent was nonexistent at this point. He used so many soaps and lotions and even a specialized ‘vitamin’ that hid his scent completely. 

It was times like this though that he wish he had something to offer. Some way of showing through subtle action that he was on his client’s side. To compensate, Light had spent years honing the body language he needed to convey these things instead. 

“Good morning, Doctor Hatori.” Light made sure his voice was soft, smooth. Like warm silk, there to comfort his frightful client. “My name is Yagami Light, I’m your state appointed lawyer.”

Hatori looked up, his eyes were red rimmed and pinched. Dark circles rested under them, nearly blue in his now sallow skin. He looked ill and Light wondered how long he’d been forced to sit in this room alone. “I had a lawyer….she dropped me last night when I tried to reach out to her.” He fixed Light with dark amber eyes that shook in exhaustion. “She said I was a monster.”

Light frowned, taking the seat before Hatori he placed the recorder on the table between them, but didn’t turn it on yet. “I don’t think you are a monster, doctor. And it’s my job to make sure you’re not treated like one. But that requires your trust. So let's get to know one another, okay?”

Hatori regarded Light with new eyes. The veil of unease lifted as he took Light’s unwavering golden gaze, his soft yet determined features, and his steady posture. Whatever he saw must have settled him, reassured him. He stretched out a hand. “I think I would like that….Yagami san.” 

There was something in his voice, a pause, a consideration. Light was small for an alpha. He put up with quite a bit of teasing for it, but over the years learned when to boast and when to cave to keep his secret. Some people welcomed a challenge, wanted one even. Some, alpha or beta, wanted to be dominated. Others. Others he bent his neck to and walked away. No matter what he was always careful to never get into a fight. 

This man though worked with omegas who wanted more for themselves, there was a real possibility he would see in Light what he had strived so hard to hide from others. He would know exactly what to look for. He would take in Light’s size and his choosing a job where scent blocking was common practice and he would probably fit them and a hundred other tells altogether. 

He would know then, that Light was the best option for him as a lawyer. No one would fight as hard for him as Light would. 

“Now,” Light said, leaning forward so that his hair cascaded down around him, hiding most of his face from the cameras that were surly rolling. His voice was pitched low to avoid any internal bugs from picking it up. “I’m going to ask you about your clients. I need you to be very honest with me.” Light listened very carefully as doctor Hatori began to talk. 

The recorded sat dormant on the table between them.

 

~~~

 

The morning was dreary, cold and bleak with no sign of clearing. 

It fit his mood perfectly. 

He landed at the Narita airport before the sun was even a glimmer on the horizon. The whole flight had been spent before a glowing blue screen as L read over all the cases he’d compiled within the last few months. It had been a fluke at first. The clumsy stumbling of one of his underlings. Who, exactly, he couldn’t quite remember. It was just a case of malpractice….until it wasn’t. Until Jayne Cole, head architect and alpha, suffered a massive injury at a work sight and was rushed to the nearest hospital. 

It turned out Jane was not an alpha, he was an omega who had somehow suppressed his nature for nearly twenty years to live as a female alpha. He had been renamed James and was now safely mated after spending a few weeks healing at a temple. His family was in custody for reckless endangerment and torture of an omega and were facing life sentences. The doctor who had been treating him turned out to be the very same that L’s subordinate was looking into for malpractices that dealt with omega patients. 

Every layer they lifted, every thread they unravels, lead them on and on to another doctor in another city, or state, or country. Omegas being forced from presentation to live as alphas or betas. Some were so twisted from their tortures that they fought and cursed those who came for them. More than not, though, they broke down when they were found out. They told tales of extreme pain from having to constantly fight their instincts, of bone shattering injuries, of years of constant fear and invasive medical experiments that they had to endure. Often at the behest of a parent or guardian. Recording after recording, eventually, they all told the same tale. Pain. Torture. Fear.

And L had watched them all. Mesmerizing each and every case, the names and faces of countless broken omegas would forever be imprinted on his mind.

When he couldn’t sleep, which was most nights, he put them on and unblinking, listened to their harrowing tales. Even though it made him ill, he kept on watching. Reminding himself why he pushed so hard. That these innocents needed him. He couldn’t let them down!

He had a hell of a day ahead of him, but deciding to head to Japan to personally investigate this Hatori Hideo was the right choice. He just knew it! These doctors were like cockroaches. For every one you saw there were a dozen more hiding in wait. His arrest would cause a stir in their little community. Someone, somewhere, was going to get reckless and slip up. And L would be there to catch them when they fell. 

He had expected to be at the NPA’s offices when they opened, but thanks to the traffic they were running a bit late. It was almost welcoming though. To look out the window as the rain slicked city passed by. Many people out to start their days. Betas and alphas mostly, though here and there was a omega, adorned with a cute or expensive collar, walking side by side with their mates. He wasn’t worried about them. They were safe so long as their mates were vigilant. 

Instead he found his gaze lingering on the smaller betas and alphas. How many were really omegas in disguise?

He knew, logically, the number could not be too high. There was probably a 1% chance that anyone of them was an omega. He was more than a little paranoid at this point. 

After this meeting he really needed to try to sleep….if just for an hour. 

When they pulled into the NPA’s underground parking the car behind them sped up and peeled off into one of the restricted parking lots. L rolled his eyes as he glimpse the long golden hair of the driver before rounding the corner. Drivers overcome with road rage was the last thing he needed to be focusing right now. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to make first contact? I can make it so you don’t have to go through all this hassle, L.” Watari asked as they pulled to a stop before the garage entrance. It was the fifth time he’d offered since they had landed, and for the fifth time L shook his head.

“I’m just going to meet him, get a feel for him and start working on getting all his files sent through the proper channels.” L sighed as he opened the door and slid to out to stand on the pavement beside the care. “Beside, I need to meet this task force they promised us they were putting together.”

“Understood. Just let me know when you need me.”

L didn’t answer, only turned and entered the building. He would text Watari when he wanted to leave. He would not contact him before that...L never needed an extraction. 

He shuffled up to one of the free receptionists, gave his name, Ryuzaki Rue, and why he was there. They should be expecting him. Though everything was moving a little fast, and sometimes these foreign departments were a bit slow for L’s tastes. 

Someone brushed by him on their way to the next receptionist over, bringing with them only the scent of rain and fine perfume. Noting the way the beta glowed at the person L flicked his gaze over to them before doing a quick double take. 

 

She was beautiful. Slender, with long legs perfectly showcased by her short skirt and tightly cinched jacket. She flipped her long golden hair over her shoulder, trading flirty banter with the little beta receptionist….not that she was big herself. He would have thought she was a beta, if not for the way others in the room were eyeing her and reclining their heads as they passed. Alpha, but one who suppressed their scent to nearly completion. 

In japan it was common for some professions to block all scent so as to gain trust without the use of pheromones. To find one in the NPA at this hour….She must be a lawyer….

L followed her with his gaze as she flowed through the room, barely even pausing for a security check and took an elevator. To himself he could admit that she was nice to look at. Too bad she was an alpha. L submitted to know one, and wasn’t looking for a challenge in a mate. 

He shook himself a little at that train of thought. He wasn’t looking for a mate at all! He didn’t have the time an omega would require, and he couldn’t allow a beta to get close enough to learn anything about him. There were ways of dealing with ruts and other needs that didn’t necessitate forming a romantic relationship. 

“Sir?” 

He looked back up to the receptionist before him….had he dozed off? “Yes?”

“You’re clear to go to floor seven. Speak to Taka at the desk, he’ll tell you where you need to go.”

“Thanks.” L muttered as he headed through the paltry security. Not that he had anything on him of interest. The little baggie of gummy worms that had been in his pocket got a strange look, but no one said anything as he tucked it back away and entered the same elevator as the female alpha had. 

He took deep, even breathes. Searching for anything at all that hinted at a scent. It was more perfume than rain now. Something soft and fresh that would hardly register for anyone but the strongest alpha. He ran a finger lightly over his lips as the floors chimed softly. Was he being overly paranoid now? Probably. Chances were that he wouldn’t rest easy until they were able to ferret out all the filth parading as doctors and finally set up proper regulations for omegan healthcare. 

L walked from the elevator in a daze, the lobby for the seventh floor was a circular room with several branching hallways. His cataloging of the banal furnishings was interrupted by a commotion at the desk in the room’s centre. The same alpha from before threw a clipboard in a huff. 

“I know where it is.” She proclaimed icily before turning on her heels and prancing from the room. 

L stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled up to the desk. “Lawyers.” he said with a little, sympathetic laugh.

It had the desired effect as the beta, Taka if the girl downstairs was telling true, rolled his eyes and passed the clipboard over to L to sign. “And that one’s the worst of the worst.”

“Oh?” L hummed, trying to not sound too interested. 

“Yeah. Yagami Light. The alpha daughter of Chief Yagami. Thinks she owns the place when she comes to interview her clients.” He smirked, leaning forward all secretively. “Snotty alpha princess, probably doesn’t even know my name….She’s hot though, especially when she’s angry. I push her buttons just to see her all riled up.”

L grimaced. What a disgusting man….But at least reporting him to Chief Yagami would probably mean his immediate termination. Alpha or no, he doubted Yagami would put up with someone harassing his daughter. 

“Oh, you’re Ryuzaki san?” Taka said as he looked over the clipboard. “Well, you’re gonna have to wait for Light to get finished before speaking with Hatori. Looks like she’s his state appointed lawyer.”

Caught between laughing and rolling his eyes L just took a gummy candy from his pocket and popped it into his mouth. “Then I guess I should just meet the other detectives. L wouldn’t appreciate me being unproductive.”

“Hardass?” Taka asked, understanding softening his face. “You don’t have to tell me. Chief Yagami and the others have taken over this floor, room 713.” 

L nodded and headed the way Taka pointed. It was easy enough to find, there was a flurry of haggard looking betas running from the side offices, 713-A and 713-B. L dodged them with ease, they barely spared a glance to him as it was, most simply scurrying off with their heads lowered upon realizing his was an alpha. Not that he was pushy with his scent. L simply had other things to worry about than if his scent was bothersome to others. 

Then again Watari had told him not long after presenting that his pheromones were rather potent, and most people wouldn’t speak up about his scent even if they didn’t like it, for fear of angering a prime alpha. 

Which really was a win win for him.

Room 713 was unlocked, its inhabitants relatively at ease. Several banks of computers lined one wall, a few desks peppered the floor where detectives were taking phone calls of bent over paperwork. There was even a small lounge area with a few sofas and chairs. 

At least no one seemed to be sleeping, but the overly relaxed air did nothing to instill confidence. 

No one looked up when he entered, or said anything as he made his way over to a computer and simply let himself into the system. All their files for the case, few though they were, were easily accessible, and easier still to lock. Forcing everyone in the case file out and making sure they wouldn’t be allowed back in without the right passwords. 

Around the room people began voicing their confusion and distress. Ignoring them all L shuffled leisurely to the lounge area, poured himself some of whatever was in the lovely tea service set up on a end table. Kicking off his sneakers he climbed on one of the chairs facing the whole office. By the time he was comfortably perched those in the room had started taking notice of him. 

He sipped very loudly from his little cup as a large man with greying black hair approached. He fixed L with a dour glare as he pushed his dark rimmed glasses up on his nose. “I’m Chief Yagami Soichirou, state your business for being here before I have you forcefully removed from this building.”

L sighed. Really? All he was being threatened with was removal? He should be threatening to lock L up for what he just did.

Yet another thing that would need to be mended in order for this investigation to be fruitful. 

“I,” L stated in a bored tone, as he dragged his eyes up over the rim of his cup. “Am the man who just entered your office unnoticed, destroyed all of your case files on doctor Hatori, allowing him to go free and all of those who may be working with him in the shadows avoid justice for another day. Putting the lives of countless omegas at stake. Just so I could point out your incompetence as a task force.”

By this time everyone in the room had taken notice of L’s exchange with the Chief and had begun to migrate towards them. At his words there were several series of curses going around. Faces blanched from shock or red from rage now surrounded him, Chief Yagami sputtered incoherently as he reached for his phone. 

At least that was a step in the right direction. 

“Or I just as easily could have been. And no one even acknowledged my presence when I entered the room.” L placed his cup on the table so that he could straighten his spine and fully look Yagami in the eyes. 

“So...You didn’t just destroy all our files.” A lanky man with an afro asked shakily as others began to calm and mutter in confusion. 

“No, I didn’t. But the documents are sealed with a password that only I’ll give out.”

Yagami growled low, stilling the whispers around them and taking charge of the room once more. “I”m guessing you’re the operative that L sent. I was informed you would be here much later.”

L shrugged. “I took an earlier flight.” Dusting off his hands on his baggy trousers, L stood on the chair, using the table as a sort of bridge he leaned forward to offer Yagami his hand. “I’m Ryuzaki Rue. And I’ll be taking charge of this investigation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dears!! 
> 
> I'm so happy to have another chapter here for you! I'm really excited about everything I have planned for this story! So I hope you enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> A little background for gammas, in some cultures they are allowed to change their names after presentation. Their original names would be gender neutral until then. Jane only became Jane when he presented and started living as an alpha, and after being found out his name was forcefully changed to something else. 
> 
> I can't remember if I had any other topics to cover here....So let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or theories! I want to hear what you'd like from this story!
> 
> Thank you guys so much for your support!! I'm glad so many of you are interested in this story! Life has been SUPER hectic lately, so I feel this isn't as edited as I'd like, but I really wanted to get it out. I don't expect things to settle down for some time. So i"m not sure when the next update will be, but I'll try to get to it really soon BECAUSE
> 
> NEXT TIME!
> 
> L gets to meet this snotty little alpha princess up close! 
> 
> I wonder what he'll think of Light?
> 
> Or what Light will think of him.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE!!! 
> 
> Hello dears! It's good to be back! I'm so sorry for the delay. I ended up moving to a different state and then I had to finish up a Secret Santa project, so I had very little time to work on my projects. 
> 
> But I'm back!!!
> 
> I'm very sorry if this chapter seems disjointed. I started it months ago and even forgot how long it was until yesterday! So I hope it seems consistent and well....it's got us on a good track to where we need to go. I do hope you enjoy it!
> 
> I'll talk more about this chapter in the end note! Happy reading!  
> °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

Chapter 2

 

By the time Light clicked on the recorder to get general statements and anything that he could start using to build his case, he already had the names of Hatori’s more sensitive clients. The best part of having a photographic memory was never having to leave a paper trail. He could have their official conversation written up before the afternoon and begin working on reaching out to Hatori’s omegas by that evening on his own time, all without having anything laying around that would lead back to things he’d rather keep silent. 

In their interview Hatori didn’t dance around his practices, fully admitting to the charges against him. Light had expected that, of course. There was too much evidence against him for that. All possible deniability went out the window when the alpha of one of his patients walked in on him implanting birth control rods in their omega. His whole practice had been seized within the hour, there was no hiding anything. Illicit birth control was the least of his crimes. 

Hatori was treating five omegas in the same way Light’s own doctor was. Their names were not listed on their files and there was nothing in Hatori’s office that would lead back to them specifically. Light admired his forethought to only assign them numbers, that way innocent people matching fake names wouldn’t be harassed. 

Four of those five had approached him at a young age with the help of a guardian, each expressing the desire to stay in school and just to be kids. Not that anyone would listen to the omegas, given their dynamic and their status as minors when the treatments were started, they would be seen as nothing more than the victims of child abuse. Light would give them his doctor’s information and tell them to lay low.

The fifth omega, though, could possibly provide them with something helpful. She was brought in not by a parent but by her alpha. Evidently she had been helping him run his business for years and they were both frustrated that he couldn’t legally hire her. To protect their identities Hatori knew nothing about their business, only a number by which he could contact them. Light would try to get a hold of them first, ask if they were willing to make statements. Or, if they were willing, to testify that in defense of the doctor during the trial. The reveal of their identities would put them at risk. The laws as they currently stood would mean that the alpha would see jail time, the omega would probably get sent to a sanctuary to wait out their alpha’s sentence. After all, bonds couldn’t be broken. Omegas were always returned to their alphas when their sentences were up. 

It was a risk he didn’t expect them to take. 

Light closed the door to interrogation room 3 with a sigh. If the laws were just a little bit more in favor of an omega’s wants instead of their perceived needs, if they were ever asked what they wanted and not treated like the property of their alphas, then they might have a good case to make in getting the doctor off with a fine or something. Everyone he treated had consented fully to the procedures and medication. If the laws regarding omegas were actually just, then he would be seen to have done nothing more than practice untested medicine on patients. Which, seeing as none of his patients had died or were hospitalized while in his care did not constitute a prison sentence. 

Light rubbed his temple in a vain bid to sooth a pending headache. He was one person against….well...against the whole world. Or that’s how it felt anyway. He didn’t need to think about what could be in if the situation were just. He needed to focus on what aid he could possibly get for his client in what was, quite frankly, a fucked up world. 

Light pulled his phone from his pocket with frustrated sigh, checking for any new messages. There was still nothing from his father. Sending off one last text he turned to leave the floor. If there wasn’t an reply by the time he made it to the elevators he’d just leave and try calling his mother later. Undoubtedly his father was having just as stressful of a day as Light was. 

His phone chimed softly before he even made it to the front desk, nothing more than a room number but Light knew it was a summons and turned to walk down another hall. Room 713 fizzled with an unfamiliar manic energy. Usually his father’s men were a little more laid back in the work. They were efficient, of course. But Light had been banking on their less than hard hitting investigative work to aid in his appeals. 

The cause of this new work ethic was easy to spot. Crouching like a gargoyle sipping sipping tea from a delicate floral cup was the spiky, dark haired alpha he had seen downstairs. Seated calmly on the sofa next to him was Soichirou, a teacup loosely clutched in his large hands, exuding an air of controlled annoyance. He rose when Light approached them, setting his cup on the table to place a hand on Light’s shoulder. 

“Ryuzaki san, allow me to introduce my daughter, Yagami Light.” Ryuzaki lazily broke his gaze away from a single danish sitting on the table before him to fix his dark eyes on Light. “Light, this is Ryuzaki Rue. He’s a representative of L, who is taking over the investigation into doctor Hatori.”

Light blinked in surprise before he could reign in his features. So Teru had been right, L was taking over for lead on the case. And here Light thought he was just fishing for conversation, he’d done it enough in the past. Light was able to school himself into a more pleasant expression, one that he used often to win people over. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ryuzaki san.”

Light extended his hand and after several silent seconds of just staring at him, Ryuzaki actually shook it. Using a bit more force than was needed as his dark grey eyes never faltered from Light’s own. 

Light’s expression remained relax, his smile never slipping. This Ryuzaki was not the first alpha to ever think a crushing handshake was the only way to introduce oneself. 

“The pleasure is mine.” As if in sheer opposition to his overly aggressive handshake, Ryuzaki’s voice was bored….flat. It was anything but a pleasure. 

Light extracted his hand from Ryuzaki and turned his bright smile to his father. “The beta in the lobby said they had taken you off the case?” What he wanted to ask was if L had forced him out. But it seemed an very imprudent thing to do right in front of someone who was working for said Great Detective. 

Soichirou, to his credit, didn’t growl so much groan. Rubbing his own temple much like Light had moments before. “We weren’t removed, exactly. We’re still on the case, but we’re working alongside L in the case.”

“Technically, Yagami san, you are working under L.” Ryuzaki said, his tone just as bored and bland as his expression. absently he poked at the danish with long, boney finger. 

Light gave a little laugh to pull his father’s attention back onto him, as well to diffuse any anger. “Looks like you’ve got your hands full. I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You’re no bother, Light. Though I’m sure you have work to get back to as well.” Soichirou said proudly. His eyes always took on a bright sheen when he spoke about Light and his work. “Your mother is expecting you for dinner tonight.”

“I’ll be there.” Light said cheerily, he gave Ryuzaki a little wave. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Mmm, yes.” Ryuzaki agreed. Light had been expecting to see just the same boring, dismissive glance from him, but when he looked back up to Light his dark grey eyes were shining and bright. 

What a strange alpha- “Oh! Ah….Hello Mastu.” As Light turned to leave he had to take a hasty step back so as to avoid bumping into Mastuda, who was standing characteristically too close and gazing at Light as though he had hung the stars. No matter when or why Light appeared at the NPA, Mastuda never missed an opportunity to pop up and say hello. 

Light tried to side step him, only for Mastuda to hold up a delicate china cup as though in offering. “H-hello Light! I made you some tea!” 

Light managed to move past him without brushing against him, putting on a pacifistic smile. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass for today, Mastu.” 

“But you’ll be here tomorrow, right?” 

Light made a noncommittal noise as he headed for the door. Mastu wouldn’t forget a rain check, so Light was always careful to never say anything that could be seen as a firm agreement. Mastu was harmless. He was just a little much for Light to deal with on any normal day. Let alone a day where Light just found out his hopefully easy off case was now being led by L….and L’s croney, evidently. 

This Ryuzaki character was a strange one, he certainly didn’t comport himself as the representative of the world’s best detective should. Or at least not as Light would expect a representative of L to act. 

But it wasn’t Ryuzaki’s bad posture and rudeness that Light had to worry about. With L looking in he needed to more careful than ever that doctor Hatori’s patients were seen to. The last thing they needed was someone falling ill because they missed a treatment, drawing more unwanted attention, getting themselves taken into custody and their mates and guardians arrested. So much hung in the this very fragile balance. Now more than any other case, Light couldn’t make any missteps. 

If L’s operatives were there it couldn’t just be to look into Hatori. He should have been seen as nothing but another doctor facing malpractice charges. They didn’t even have patients to place with the numbered files. Light was sure they picked apart Hatori’s office, but wasn’t stupid enough to keep their contact information in print. Whispered in the dark interrogation room, Hatori had given Light the combination and location of his lock box. In it was everything Light would need to contact his other patients.

Light just had to get there before L was able to track the lockbox to Hatori on his own. 

Easy enough!

By the time Light got in his car and peeled out of the private parking lot, he was already planning a nice a lunch downtown. 

 

~~~

 

Yagami Light was an curious alpha…

She appeared calm and collected. Self assured to a fault. What had Taka, the disgusting beta, called her? A snotty alpha princess. It seemed a fitting title. She strode the hall with the air of complete untouchability. Her father was the chief of police, there was no one inside these walls that would think of pushing her. 

And yet...Taka had. Petty though their squabble was, it was also the most entertaining occurrence of the whole morning. 

Why hadn’t the alpha princess simple demand the respect of Taka, and thus assure his compliance to her request? It made to no sense that she would barter with words, and even in her anger, simply turn and walk away. 

There was something fishy about Yagami Light. 

L plucked an abandoned laptop from a nearby desk almost as soon as Light had left the room, unconcerned with who it might actually belong to. He quickly tabbed out of everything running and brought up the security of the whole building. Light had just spent time with Hatori, and L wanted to know what exactly they were talking about it. 

Soichirou had made his way back over to the bank of desks to give his workers some direction. L had them running background checks on all of Hatori’s patients, friends, family….the beta who served him his coffee in the morning, his mailman, his barber. Anyone who had ever come into contact with the doctor in the last few years. 

As the computer loaded all the security data L glance up, almost expecting to see a nice piece of cake and sweet coffee waiting for him on the table. Until he remembered that Watari was off with the car...Instead his eyes landed on a very downtrodden Mastuda, rejected cup of tea still in hand. 

“Is he going to be alright?” L asked blandly.

Aizawa was passing at that time and paused to examine Mastuda before rolling his eyes and walking on. “He’s fine. He always gets that way when Light drops by.”

“Mastuda!” Soichirou bellowed from across the room, finally taking note that one of his men had just been standing in a daze for five minutes. “Get back to work!” His voice was laced with an alpha command, causing the beta Mastuda to jump. Nearly dropping the tea before he place it on the table, Mastuda dashed across the room to a free desk. 

And L, then, was free to start his investigation. 

Twenty minutes later L rewound the recording of the interrogation room for the second time. He took a set of earbuds from his pocket, plugged them and turned the volume up as loud as the laptop would allow. The sound was working just fine, listening to Light’s greeting was proof enough of that. But once they started talking it was so low that he couldn’t pick any of it out, the camera not quite in the right place to efficiently read either of their lips. 

Curious of all was that Light didn’t turn the recorder on right away. There was a whole ten minutes of talking that he had not recorded for the firm to use on the case. The last ten or so minutes was perfectly pitched for both the recorder, that was finally in use, and the security system’s audio devices. 

By the fifth time backing up the recording L had to admit defeat. He couldn’t catch more than few disjointed words here and there. ‘Omega’ was certainly one of them, and he thought he had a string of four numbers that was possible a combination, or a date. He couldn’t be sure which. It a pointless pursuit to keep rewinding it to listen once more to static and the barely there whispers of the two. 

It all came down to one fantastically heartening fact! Hatori had confided something so sensitive to Light that they couldn’t risk it being recorded. And there was only one thing L could think of that it might be. 

It was time he got to know the Yagami’s a little better. 

 

~~~

 

Light had dined at a lovely Spanish inspired bistro downtown. Not his usual indulgence, but the squid ink and shrimp risotto was always exquisite. It wasn’t something he’d make the journey for on its own, though he usually stopped there when he was in the neighborhood. 

Once his plate was taken away he leaned back in his little metal patio chair with a soft sigh, enjoying the bit a watery sunlight now that the rain had stopped, as well as a limoncello Digestif. The small black box from Haroti’s lock box sat in his jacket pocket. He’d yet to open it but it should contain just a slip of paper with five phone numbers and five last names. He would contact them once he was home then destroy the paper. 

There was just one thing that was bothering him on this otherwise peaceful and triumphant afternoon. An older gentleman in a long black duster and bowler hat had been watching him through his whole meal. 

It could be nothing. Light was used to people watching him. It seemed the one thing about being an omega that he couldn’t mask was some annoy primal appeal. Almost everyone he passed would give long, lustful looks that didn’t always dissipate when people found out his was, so far as they could tell, an alpha. 

Not that Light didn’t secretly enjoy the attention. Not that he wasn’t willing to use the special treatment that being seen as desirable afforded him. 

But Light was also pretty sure that this older gentleman had gotten out of the very same black car that he’d been following that morning. 

He was careful to never let his gaze linger on the man. With an effort he kept his shoulders lax, calmly sipping his limoncello. For all appearances he was at peace. Even as every nerve told him that he was in danger….omega pheromones and heats were easy enough to stifle, but instincts were not. His skin still crawls and ached when his sensed trouble or had to fight for dominance in any form. 

He was just very used to pushing those feelings down by now. 

Lazily he fished his phone from his pocket and sent a quick message to his assistant, a little beta named Nanako that was used to Light’s odd demands when it came to his cases. Confident that even if someone was watching him, nothing he did would seem out of order, Light pushed away from the little table and headed back to his office. 

He spent the rest of his official work day transcribing his notes and setting up appointments, just as he was packing up Nanako came in and dropped off a plain paper bag and a small coffee. The bag had the same logo as the cup, that of a little coffee shop from the shopping centre nearby. One that Light often frequented when running errands. His preference was now a well known and documented fact. 

He tucked the paper sack into his bag without even looking inside, gathered up his things, his jacket, his bag, his laptop case, he headed for the door. Light said his usual goodbyes with his trademark kind smile. Perhaps it was a bit paranoid, but being tailed by that older gentleman that afternoon had rubbed him in the wrong way. He would make sure that from the outside his actions were normal, mundane, and predictable. 

Mostly.

He made one deviation on his way home, pulling into the post office parking lot and walking inside as though it was the most natural everyday thing in the world. At the desk he dug around in his bag for a moment before coming up with a small black box, which he handed over with a kind smile and some light chatter about the weather. The little box was packed up, Light filling out the label with an address that could easily be traced back to his recorded, and now transcribed, conversation with Hatori. He paid for the shipping and wished the beta worker a good evening before finally heading home. 

Yes. Paranoia itched at the back of his neck, no matter how unlikely it was someone was already tailing him, he could risk it with L covering the case. The same car he had followed to the NPA that morning had just happened to be at the out of the way restaurant where Light had taken his lunch. Something that hardly ever happened. He did not believe in coincidences. If he were L, he would be trying to find anything on Hatori that he could used to incriminate him. Anything at all to prove he was harming omegas to get them past a system that was meant to keep them subdued. And If Light were L, he’d tale the lawyer first. A part of him wanted to scoff at how ridiculous it all was. Would L really go to such lengths? Could he even seize the bank’s security system? Would he waist effort trailing Light’s movements so soon after meeting him, when he was still figuring out the case?

Ultimately Light had to assume that the answer to all of it was yes. 

Relying on being able to slip past the less than vigilant NPA officers, either due to actual ineptitude or being able to use his father’s name to gain respect and mislead the eye was not going to work this time. Even if he got lucky and something else came up that would lead L elsewhere, Light couldn’t afford to get lazy or be unprepared. 

Reaching his flat was not quite the relaxing haven it usually was. Light had just enough sense of self to kick his heels into the closet by the door instead of leaving them haphazard on the floor, before he was pulling out a burner phone Nanako had gotten him and propping himself against the granite of his kitchen counter. Hatori had given him rather specific instructions on reaching his clients, Light was pleased in the simple yet effective system they had in place. One by one Light sent a text to each number, a very short code that let them know it was an emergency. Once the message was marked ‘read’ Light called to give them all the instructions they would need to move over to his own doctor for care and reassignment. 

He made this first call swift and efficient. Keeping them no longer than he needed once satisfied that they could handle the next steps on their own, as well as getting a promise that if he called again they would be willing to talk. 

Hopefully he wouldn’t need to bring any of them in. If he could clear up all of Hatori’s little threads there would be no need. And if he couldn’t there was no guarantee that they would agree to show their faces. There was so much for them lose if they did. 

If he were in their place Light would probably not risk it himself. 

He turned the phone off when he was finished with the calls and placed it in a bag at the back of his closet. It was safer than throwing it out just yet and risking someone finding it, and less incriminating than his assistant having to buy more burners in the future when he would need it again. Minutes could be added with cash that couldn’t be traced back to him anyway. So long as he could keep it hidden everything would be fine. 

Finally Light collapsed onto the bed with a deep sigh. He probably didn’t have enough time to take a shower, though it was a tempting thought. It might be worth risking his mother’s wrath for being late to dinner in order to feel a little more human after the day he’d had. As though able to read his mind from a mile away, his mother’s text tone chimed loudly. 

‘Dinner in 30. Your father is bringing someone from work.’

He groaned loudly into the silent room. His father would sometimes have Aizawa over, but other than that he left work at work. The timing was too perfect. Would L’s lacky really try to weasel into a family dinner just to get some info from Light on his client? He’d have to know that Light wouldn’t let anything slip. And L couldn’t, legally, force Light to say anything. Besides, they had a rule of never discussing work at the table anyway, his mother was very strict on that. 

Then again he could just be after a free and home cooked meal. It could have been the baggy nature of his clothing, but he had seemed a rather scrawny alpha. Light could easily believe he often missed meals. 

So no shower for Light. But he would be damned if he showed up in his work suit, it didn’t matter if someone was there to critique him or not. Light always threw on comfortable clothing for family dinners. Of course ‘comfortable’ for Light was still fashionable and prim. He shucked off his fine wool skirt and red silk blouse in favor of a breezy dress of cream colored cotton dress and a knit maroon shrug. He twisted his hair back into a bun, that even in haste still managed to look neat and tidy. 

He was just about to dash from the room before a small bottle caught his eye. It was delicate, made of clear blue glass with a modern and boring label. Designed to be overlooked. Just a little perfume bottle that anyone might have, no matter their dynamic. In reality it was a special pheromone laced cologne. The base of the perfume was fresh, very much like his usual go to scent, but with a hint of actual alpha pheromone thrown in. Yet the scent was still subtle. What one would expect an alpha who uses scent blocking soap to smell of a the end of the day, as even the most potent soaps wore off at the end of the day.

Not everyone had to the benefit of specialty formulated ‘vitamins’ to fully suppress their scent, especially since they were not on the market in any respectable store. There were in fact, very few options for blocking scents available to the masses. Omegas were forbidden from using things that hampered scent in any form, betas were known to use enhancers to stand out with their singular and soothing scents, with very few of them choosing to hide their scents at all. And alphas typically only blocked for work or when in social situations where letting one's scent out was considered rude or vulgar.

Light dabbed a little of the alpha perfume on his wrists and neck, just enough to be noticed but not to be overpowering. He left his flat feeling suitably camouflaged and ready for whatever little surprises this Ryuzaki san might have for him. 

The door was unlocked when Light arrived at his parent’s home. They lived in a very quiet neighborhood and hadn’t needed to lock their doors for a as long as Light could remember. No one showed up on the Yagami’s doorstep other than the occasional nosy neighbor who often let themselves in to have a cup of tea with whoever happened to be home. Sometimes he wondered how different that would be if he had openly presented as an omega. It wasn’t unheard of for omegas to go missing from their homes, even in seemingly calm and safe communities like this one. 

Would his family have started locking their doors? Would they have tried to keep Light away from the windows? He’d read some accounts of over paranoid parent’s that kept their omega children in their basements or even built whole rooms for them void of all windows and vents that might leak their scent to the outside. Those sort of things were far too common for his liking. But the practices were seen as rational since they did assure the safety of the omegas. 

Truly all anyone cared about was that they stayed alive, warm and breathing and able to be bred.

Which was no life at all. 

“I’m home!” He called from the front door as he kicked off his sensible ballet flats and shut the door behind him. There was only a soft reply from the direction of the kitchen. Followed by the clang of pans on the stove. Sayu was still in school, or on her way home from, and there was no way that his father got out of work so early….especially with this Ryuzaki man who had butted his way into a family meal just to get some off the records info out of them. So Light made his way through the empty house to the kitchen to help his mother out. 

She was tending to a pan over the stove when he walked in, so he just gave her a peck on the cheek to let her know he was there, and began chopping up the vegetables that had been left on the cutting board unattended. 

“Busy day at work?” She asked after a sniff.

Light turned his head enough to see her give him a little smile. She definitely smelled his alpha enhanced perfume and knew what his game was. But even when they were alone they never made careless mistakes. Never speaking about what actually was, always hinting and skirting conversations. Over the years they had learned to read each other well. Speaking between the lines was their second language. 

“And it isn’t over yet.” Light said breezily as he chopped a carrot with particular vigour. 

“You’ve met our dinner guest?” 

“He’s working the case with dad….And I’m representing the defense.”

Sachiko nodded at the pan. “The omega doctor….?”

“Yeah….”

The conversation petered out there for a bit. They’d hit very close to a dangerous topic that had been silently sworn off for years and years. He didn;t need to say anything anyway, he already knew her stance on these things. It was the same as his own. They would both be spending the evening thinking about what it would be like they were in this position, both knowing that it was always there over their heads just waiting to fall. 

At some point the front door opened again and Sayu sang to them of her presence. After a quick run upstairs she returned to hover around the fringes of their little two person catering session, asking randomly if there was anything she could do to help. 

“Do you not have homework anymore?” Light asked with a soft laugh. “Are they going soft at To-Oh now? I had homework every night.” 

She gave a very unattractive snort of laughter, which only made Light smile broader. “Which is why I’m not going in to be a lawyer like you. I do have homework. But it’s just observing people and writing something about it. I figured there’s no one better than my older sis to observe.”

Light gave her a withering look but didn’t say anything. He might as well the subject of a psychological experiment. He was already going to be put on trial over dinner. Light does his best to block out some of the rambling now that she’s started talking. Sayu could go on for hours without any input from the other party. His meditative state was however completely shattered when the door opened again and his father called out that he was home.

Sachiko dried her hands and followed Sayu from the room to greet him and their guest. Light only moved to take over tended the stove. It might be rude to be the only one not welcoming Ryuzaki to the house. Then again it wasn’t Lights home and thus not his responsibility to make people feel welcomed.

When they all trooped into the dining room Light leaned out of the kitchen enough to smile at his father and announce that dinner was nearly finished. He was bright and cheery and he knew that he looked relaxed yet radiant, a softer and dare he say prettier, counter to the controlled looked he preferred for working. Ryuzaki’s black eyes widened only sightly at seeing that Light was there already and cooking. Like he was a normal person having dinner with his family. 

Which of course he was. Just that and nothing more. 

Sachiko comes back in to finish the meal, shooing Light out to sit in the dining room and herding Sayu in with a, “Light cooked so you serve,” That brooked no argument. 

“Yagami san, it’s good to see you again.” Ryuzaki’s voice was as flat as Light remembered, he didn’t even put any effort into it! 

“And you as well,” Light gave him a bright smile as he sat across from him and his father at the table. “And please Ryuzaki san, this isn’t the police station or a courtroom. Call me Light.”

Ryuzaki’s lip twitched, snarl or smirk Light couldn’t tell which. “You’re very right, Light chan. We aren’t in court right now.”

With a sheer force of will Light gritted out a smile and kept it smile straight. Light chan? Chan! Like he was a child! The absolute nerve of this bastard! Light chan! What an asshole. On top of which he had not said that Light should use his first name….it would be to rude to do so at his parent’s table.

“I’m glad to see you weren’t held up at the office, Light.” Soichirou’s voice was mild as he sipped from a glass of whisky that Light hadn’t noticed at first. There was an identical one in front of Ryuzaki, completely untouched. 

“It isn’t far enough into the trial for the all nighters just yet. Today was mostly phone calls.” 

Ryuzaki instantly perked up. “Phone calls to whom?”

“We don’t discuss work at the table, Ryuzaki san.” Sachiko scolded as she blew into the room like a dark storm, crushing Ryuzaki’s question before Light even had time to think of a reply. She placed a tray with wine and several glasses on the table and began to pour everyone a little. “It’s a policy we instilled years ago.” She continued in a softer tone, though her eyes still bore into Ryuzaki with enough force that all he could do is blink at her for a time. 

Light took his glass with thanks, shooting Ryuzaki a smug smile over the rim. Sayu came in next with the food, breaking the tension by giving everyone something else to focus on. Plates were filled and complements were handed out to Light and Sachiko for their prowess in the kitchen, even though the food was simple. Rice, meat, and veggies in a savory sauce. But Light still beamed under the praise. 

Ryuzaki pushed his food around with his chopsticks….not eating a bite. 

“How was school, Sayu?” Soichirou asked, fixing Sayu with a kind and open expression. He did not take Sayu’s interest in psychology as seriously as he had taken Light’s desire to be a lawyer. He saw it was a frivolous thing. Something weaker betas chose because they couldn’t keep up with the alphas. He always asked her over dinner how her day was, though. 

With all his faults, his way of seeing things and agreeing with things that Light knew was the root of the world’s problems, Soichirou was a very devoted father. 

“It was great!” Sayu practically bounced as she answered, chopsticks fisted in her hand and forgotten. “I have to analyze some people that I know. I’ve decided to study Light first!” 

“Yes.” Ryuzaki drawled slowly, lazily turning to look at Light as he spoke. “It must be so nice to have such a prime example of alphaness as your sister. What are you studying?” He picked up his whiskey glass for the first time since sitting at the table and took a large swig. “Genetic coding, maybe?”

Sayu gaped at him before turning large confused eyes to Light. “I think Ryuzaki san is just being silly.” Light assured her, he gave Ryuzaki a kind smile. What an asshole. “She’s going into psychology. Part of that is observing family and friends and sort of….faux diagnosing them.” 

“Oh good,” Ryuzaki mused softly, taking his first bite of food that evening. “I was worried about her receiving a failing grade.”

“What?” For the second time Sayu looked around for some sort of help. 

“Only that your sister is far too small to be seen as a model alpha. You should would want to use someone else if that were the case.”

Light’s hand jerked, causing him to bite into the wood of his chopstick, he glared at Ryuzaki but he had not lifted his eyes from his plate. Not even having the decency to look Light in the eyes as he said such things. What was this guy’s problem? Even Soichirou pointedly clearing his throat to bring to light that Ryuzaki should feel some sort of shame, was completely ignored by him. Luckily Sachiko swept in to save the day. 

She was a wonder at that. 

“The alphas in my family are notoriously small.” She said proudly, giving Light a kind smile. “My dear grandfather, rest her soul, was hardly bigger than her beta mate.” It was an exaggeration. Sachiko’s grandfather was hardly smaller than what was normal for any alpha during the time. Small, yes, by standards now, but by no means tiny. The real truth to the story was that her mate had been quite tall for a beta. 

Not that anyone could really pull these receipts now. And Light gladly used it to his advantage when he could. 

“Yes….these sort of deformities are usually genetic.” Ryuzaki voice was distant, distracted, as he tapped his chopsticks against his lips in thought. 

“How was your day, dear.” Soichirou quickly changed the subject, trying to direct the topic as far from Ryuzaki as he could. The glare he sent to Ryuzaki saying all Light needed to know. If it had been acceptable to do so, Soichirou would have kicked him out right then and there. As it stood, it was unlikely he would be invited over for family dinner again. 

Sachiko gladly took the lead and began talking about her day, a new client wanted a dress and she offered to teach a sewing class at the highschool a few days a week. From there they went around the table, each telling some mundane point of their day. Sayu had gotten an A on a quiz, Soichirou had found ten dollars on his way into work that morning and had treated his crew to coffee and danishes for it. When it was Light’s turn to give a bland story he mentioned his lunch at the bistro. 

“That’s a bit out of the way, isn’t it?” Soichirou asked conversationally, beside him Ryuzaki snapped his eyes up to Light. 

“I had some errands to run for a client out that way. So I thought I’d just make a lunch out of it.” He shrugged his shoulders as though to say there wasn’t much to say about it.

Ryuzaki sat up, not exactly straight in his seat but as straight as he’d gotten all night. “What sort of errand? Which client?”

“Ryuzaki san.” Soichirou growled a low warning. 

Light waved him off easily. “It’s fine dad. It’s all on the books. Ryuzaki san will be able to call in tomorrow and see the official records.” He turned back to Ryuzaki with a winning smile. “It was for Doctor Hatori. He had a lock box in a bank downtown. He asked me to clear out the contents and send them to his sister who lives in Kyoto.”

“And what was in this lock box?” Ryuzaki was quick to ask, once again ignoring how everyone else at the table wished for him to leave it. 

Light effected an annoyed, yet somewhat amused air. As though he found the whole thing quite entertaining, but didn’t want to admit it. “Just an antique locket. Very old. And Western, if you can believe it. All ugly filigree and outrageously large. But it’s priceless, evidently.” Light chuckled softly before taking a sip of his wine. “And I suppose it would be, what with that enormous sapphire embedded in it.” Light smirked at Ryuzaki as he finished his tale, daring him to find any holes or cracks in it. Nanako had really gone all out with her task. She could have picked anything, a ring, a broch, even a pocket watch would have done. He wouldn’t even be able to ask why she had chosen the locket. Not that it mattered. It was serving its purpose splendidly, no matter the reason. 

“Oh, Light! It sounds so lovely!” Sayu chirped, bouncing in her seat. “I wish you could have brought it home for us to see.”

“It was actually quite gaudy, Sayu. Count yourself lucky. I will surely have nightmares of it choking me for weeks!” Light feigned a choking motion that had Sayu chuckling into her hands and Ryuzaki’s overly large eyes bugging out even more. 

“Alright. Since Sayu laid out dinner, you’ll help me with dessert, Light.” Sachiko said as she rose and began to collect empty plates and bowls. 

“Of course, mom.” Light said as he quickly followed suit. Once they were hidden away behind the wall of the kitchen Sachiko shot Light a worried look. She said nothing though as she handed him a few small plates to carry before picking up a small tray of small mochi cakes in varying flavors. “Everything’s okay.” Light whispered to her before heading back out. 

If Ryuzaki had been less than enthused about Sachiko’s delicious homemade meal, doing little more than rearranging the food on his plate throughout the whole dinner. He more than made up for it with his keen interest in the little mochi cakes….which were store bought. He ate one of every flavor they had and even went back for seconds on a few. 

When the cakes were all gone and the plates once again tucked back into the kitchen, Soichirou rose with a groan. “Can I offer you a coffee or brandy, Ryuzaki san.” He was nothing if not hospitable. 

“I’m afraid not, Yagami san. I must get back to work.” Ryuzaki bowed to him and then to Sachiko. “Thank you for the food.” 

Light bit his cheek, trying very hard to not grimace at Ryuzaki’s awful manners. However, it did give him an easy out. “I’m going to have to leave early as well.” Light said as he pushed his chair in and made his way around the kitchen to give his mother and Sayu a kiss on the cheek and to clasp his father’s hand. 

“Sorry you have to leave so soon, Light. But we understand how busy you are.” Soichirou said. He was always very understanding when it came to Light’s work and in short order he was out the door, standing with Ryuzaki on the doorstep. “Well, goodnight, Ryuzaki san.” Light made to step off the porch but Ryuzaki nearly lept down to put himself in Light’s path. 

“Will I be seeing Light chan at the NPA again? Tomorrow maybe?” 

Light glared before he could control himself. Again with calling him chan! “I’ll be in and out of the precinct during the case. I always am.”

Ryuzaki nodded. “Good. See you then, then. Light chan.” He turned sharply and slouched his way down the small path to the road. He didn’t stand there for more than a few seconds before the same black car that had followed Light during his lunch break showed up. Light leaned down to get a peek inside when Ryuzaki opened the door, unsurprised to see the same old man that had been at the bistro. 

So L was having his lackeys follow him around….it was a good thing he had expected that. 

“See you tomorrow, Light chan.” Ryuzaki yelled out the window as the car sped out. 

Light didn’t doubt that he would, in fact, see him tomorrow. 

Whether he visited his client at the police station or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, loves! 
> 
> I'm so happy to have gotten another chapter of this story out. I was rather surprised to see how much I had written when I looked at it the other day, so I'm sorry it didn't get out sooner, BUT here it is and hopefully another chapter will be out soon....ish.
> 
> I asked and you answered, I had two ways I could have seen this playing out, but those of you who have spoken up in the comments helped me make a decision. It's the sort of thing where I could have been happy with it either way, which of course is the worst sort of decision to make (≧◡≦)  
> So I do not see a warning change OR the addition of sensitive tags in the future of this story now that I'm set on our course!
> 
> Thank you guys so much for you support and kind words for this story. After so long of an absence where I was unable to work on it even though I wanted to, your support is the only thing keeping the story going! So thank you all again. I know there's some concerns going on about L right now. Bless his little froggy heart, he just needs to find a friend who can help him learn about the real world. Let me know what you thought about today's chapter, and I hope you'll be back for
> 
> NEXT TIME!  
> L is in the market for a new (or in this case, first) best friend.   
> Light is just trying to keep his life running smoothly.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a bit longer than I wanted to get out, but in my defense I got the flu, which I'm still kinda getting over. So I hope this makes as much sense as I think it does   
> (ง ื▿ ื)ว   
> Please Enjoy!

Chapter 3

 

L growled in frustration after coming up empty once again. He stood and began to pace in an effort to not simply chuck the computer out the window. Not only would it probably kill someone falling from the lofty height of his top floor penthouse, but it was hardly his computer’s fault.

He had gone straight to the hotel when he’d left Light Yagami gaping on her parent’s doorstep. The smug euphoria of causing the ever composed Light to become taken over by shock was nothing compared to the excited itch to get back to his hotel to look into this ‘locket’ business. 

Everything was exactly as Light had said it would be. Which was the problem. Everything checked out! All the tapes showed him was Light as she went above and beyond to help her client.

He went back over the facts he had. 

At 10:00 am Light left the NPA after chatting with her father. She only stopped to say a passing farewell to three people, the security guard at the entrance, the mousy little beta that tried to catch her attention at the front desk, and the security guard that waited at the front doors. From there she had gotten into her car and drove off towards the bank that Hatori must have told her about during their unrecorded session. L could watch all of this through the cameras in the building, and once Light was on the road, through the cameras on stop lights all the way until she made it to the bank. 

Getting the footage at the bank wasn’t too difficult, what with his connections and skills. If he didn’t know someone who could help him out through the usual ways, he wasn’t against using more underhanded ways to get what he wanted. Either way, Light Yagami entered the bank at 11:23 am, spoke with someone at the front desk, flashed her ID and was allowed back into a small waiting room with rich mahogany chairs, up to date tabloids and health magazines on the tables, and hideous faux plants. Light was in that room, picking her way disdainfully through a magazine on current Hollywood events for ten minutes, and by 11:35 she was pushing in the combination to a single lockbox. The security camera pointed directly to the table, showing that the small black box inside was indeed the only contents 

Light tucked it into her pocket, thanked the bank worker with a smile, then left the bank just as calm and poised as she’d entered. 

Four minutes passed from the time Light left the bank to the time she pulled up before the first streetlight and thus back into L’s view. And by 11:45 am she was already seated at the bistro she’d mention at dinner, sipping her tea like she hadn’t a care in the world. 

Watari had already given his report about following Light to lunch which had been disappointingly dull….at least now they knew why she was so far from her office that afternoon. 

From there he could track Light all the way back to her firm and watched as she diligently typed out her report of her conversation with Hatori and did some basic prep work for her case until her little beta assistant came in with a coffee and a snack before leaving for the day. Light took a sip of her coffee, tossed the sack from the cafe into her bag and headed out the door. Then it was back into the car and a quick stop at the post office where Light fished the black box out of her bag and handed it over to be packed and sent off.

He had seized the box, of course. Calling for one of his invisible hands to reach out and pluck it from the post office. He had never been so disappointed to see jewelry in his life. The necklace was just as tacky as Light had claimed it to be as it winked at him from its white satin pillow. There had even a small note tucked inside addressed to Hatori’s sister, saying that the necklace was meant for her daughter’s birthday. Just something he’d found and thought she’d enjoy. 

Dull, dull, dull. 

After the post office and her short trip to her little apartment, which she lived in completely alone, there had been a full hour that L couldn’t track. Time in which he’d assumed Light would have gone home and taken a shower before going to her parents. But she hadn’t smelled like a freshly bathed alpha that evening. Her natural pheromones were leaking through her scent blocking soaps, not horrendously so...oh no, not prim and proper Light. She probably would have never left her home if she thought she might offend someone with any part of her being. No, but there was enough that, standing next to her on the doorstep, the pine and smoke scent of her burned his nose. 

She had been home for so long, and yet all she did was change her clothes….

Maybe she was one to get caught up in some after work television program. Her relaxation going overlong and then she was rushing to get ready for this family dinner….L scratched at his shaggy hair as he took a sharp turn and retraced his steps. It could be something completely innocent, maybe she had friends she called after work….maybe she read in her downtime….and maybe she was doing clandestined deals for the doctor. Something she had to do one her own, off the record. 

Like the first part of their interview. 

That hour was worrying. It was a very suspicious hour. He could think of any number of things that could happen in an hour and very few of them were helpful. One doubt-able hour over a day that down right….well, it was down right….

“Neat.” His voice rang out, breaking the silence of hours. 

“What’s that?” Watari queried from his own work station that he’d set for himself on kitchen bar, he had been running through all the background information they had gathered on Hatori’s current patients. 

“Neat. It’s all so neat!” L began his pacing once more, running a finger absently over jaw as he went. “Every aspect of Light’s day is all very neat. Laid out and precise. All of it easily accessible and recorded. Expect that first fifteen minutes with Hatori and an hour alone at home this evening.”

“What are you thinking?” Water leaned back, hand stalling in lifting his tea cup when he spotted L. “And do stop walking on the furniture, L. Remember the Queen Victoria loveseat incident.”

L stopped short, looking down. He hadn’t even been aware of what he’d been doing. So caught up in his frenzied frustration to realized he’d been climbing the furniture….again. Watari was right, the last thing he wanted was a cracked rib because some fastidious alpha princess was getting under his skin. 

L hopped down from the back of the large white sectional with a huff and resumed his thoughts. “Hatori told Light something in that fifteen minutes, and I doubt very much that it was about this ‘birthday’ present for his niece….” L came to a stop before floor to the ceiling window, looking out at the bright and busy city through the lightly tinted glass. It had started raining again at some point, droplets streaked across the glass, warping and blurring the flashing lights below. 

“Run the bracelet through fingerprinting and residue tests.” 

“Of course, L.” Watari rose from his chair with a soft groan, phone already to his ear before he even left room. 

There was something there. Something under the shiny porcelain facade that Light Yagami put on. Surly she was just doing what she saw to be her job. And in that, L couldn’t fault her.

Much.

But he couldn’t allow her to withhold information she may have against Hatori. It wasn’t a matter of win or lose….though L would not, no matter what, lose. L had come across some harrowing situations in his time. Records of abuse and manipulation against omegas that had even his instincts, usually so dormant, afire. He could suffocate his ego, for a time, if it meant finding all the msdeeds this doctor had done against those helpless under his care, and unearthing any contacts he might have in the shadows. People like this vile Hatori rarely worked alone. And Light was the best lead he had other than Hatori himself. 

He didn’t care how he had to do it. Bribery, torture, or befriending a snotty spoiled princess….L was going to get the answers he wanted. 

 

~~~

 

To say the rest of Light’s week had been a trial would be an understatement. Clearly Light had angered some vengeful god with a sick sense of humor for the luck he was having. 

He tried to time everything for utmost efficiency in time management and productivity….as well as ease of entry and egress. Years of having to work around the clingy mess that was Mastuda had instilled a sort of second sense in Light….that and knowing his father’s work routines. It was easy enough to plan his movements around the NPA so that he wouldn’t be held up in small talk unless he wanted it. 

It would seem that Ryuzaki, however, lived by his own schedule and not that proposed by the chief of police. When Light came in at 8 am then next morning to have a short meeting with his client, Ryuzaki was at the doors, loitering. Or so he thought, until he was holding a cup of coffee directly under Light’s nose the second he had entered. 

“I got Light chan a coffee.” Ryuzaki’s droning proclamation was an odd counter to the enthusiasm with which he shook said coffee at Light. Annoying him with the sudden and unwanted offering, and making it impossible for Light to miss the logo on the cup, that it came from the same cafe near his work that Light ofen frequented….the very same coffee in fact that Nanako had gotten for him the day before. 

Light took a step back, blinking at Ryuzaki in dazed confusion. Careful to not let anything outside of sleepy indifference show as he held up a similar cup. “I already have coffee.” 

“So you do.” Was Ryuzaki’s only remark as he fell into step beside Light.   
Light fought the urge to scowl as they passed through security. That coffee shop wasn’t anywhere near the NPA, unless Ryuzaki was staying in a hotel near the law firm there was no reason for him to have gone out of his way to get it….unless Light had been correct in thinking that L was having him followed, spied on. And suddenly Light was very proud of himself for his forethought.

“Having a good morning, Light chan?”

“I beg your pardon.” Light asked, pulling himself from his musings. 

Ryuzaki was slouched over in the opposite corner of the elevator from Light, staring at him from the looks of it, while Light was lost in his thoughts. “It’s just that you were smiling. I was wondering what could have made you so happy so early in the morning.” Ryuzaki’s large black eyes turned suddenly sharp, “After al,l Light chan has such a crucial and humorless job. Her client is facing grave consequences for his actions.”

Light took a sip of his coffee as he silently barated himself for such a stupid slip up. Ryuzaki looked about as observant as a hyperactive child who had just downed a quart of ice cream. That couldn’t be the case though, or at least not all of it. L wouldn’t put someone out in the field if they weren’t good at their job. Able to see things that others might miss. People like Light….People like Ryuzaki. “I was just enjoying my coffee, Ryuzaki san.” He could have said, I was just remembering a joke, but then he’d have to come up with a joke. A simple pleasure held on the commute to work….for which an elevator did technically count as commuting, was an easier explanation that no one would fault him for. 

“That is good.” Ryuzaki said in his bland, bold tone. “If Light chan had known something uplifting about the Doctor’s chances in the case, I would very much like to hear it myself.”

He almost rolled his eyes. For crying out loud this man wasn’t even trying to be subtle. The doors to the elevator dinged and Light gave him an openly exasperated smile as he moved to leave the lift. “Ryuzaki san, whatever information that I may or may not have to further my clients case will not ever be anything that I simply share with you as small talk on an elevator.” His smile turned bright as he left Ryuzaki standing there, still holding the untouched coffee. “I hope you have a great morning! Say hi to my dad for me!” 

Practically beamng, Light left him behind to go see Hatori.

That would be the best moment of his entire week. 

Every time he so much as turned around after that Ryuzaki was there. Usually standing so close to the door when he left the interrogation room Light wouldn’t have been surprised to learn he was pressing his ear to it in hopes of hearing what Light and Hatori were saying to each other. Which was nothing that wasn’t recorded, not after that first day. Light had come in on the second day and told Haroti that their task had been completed. Anyone listening in would assume he meant the shipping of that hideous locket. Only he and Hatori would know the truth. 

By the third time that Light had literally bumped into Ryuzaki while leaving Hatori’s room Light was ready to just tell Hatori to call him with his one phone call if he needed anything. He was just so tired of having to maneuver around this man! Did he not work? He did not comport himself as befit a representative of L. If only the world’s greatest detective knew that his man spent his time loitering in the halls, and more often than not barefoot at that, he would probably be none too happy. But really, who ran around without shoes on in the workplace? Not that the rest of his dress was any better. Four days into their unfortunate acquaintanceship and Light had yet to see him anything other than a long sleeve white shirt and plain, wrinkled jeans. Neither of which appeared to actually be in his size as they hung off his gangly frame. 

For his own sanity, Light had to assume that Ryuzaki had a closet full of the same outfit, and not that he simply never changed his clothes….

He had spent the whole week either dodging Ryuzaki, or gritting his teeth so as to keep silent as one of his cutting jabs to either Light’s character or size. Until finally, finally, it was Friday. Soon Light would be able to stay at home where he knew Ryuzaki wouldn’t be lurking behind corners, ready to bombard him with pointless questions or random offers to go out and play tennis….he was less upset that Ryuzaki had found out that Light had played for a time in school, it wasn’t like that sort of thing was classified, and he had to have some reasoning skills after all. He was more irked at the spark of triumph that flickered over Ryuzaki’s face when Light had declined. If he had been a real alpha, Light probably would have punched him and demanded the tournament take place right then and there. 

Hell if he had been younger and his status as an alpha less concrete he still might have done just that. 

However, Light had spent years getting a reputation, one that painted him as rather stuck up and prim, but as an alpha nonetheless. Just one that didn’t need to show off to retain their status. Of course, that had all factored in when he chose his profession. The alphas in the law offices might enjoy their battles, they just did so with words over actions. 

Thus the break room at his office, once avoided at all costs, had become something of a haven. Here scents were dampened or completely covered and even the most venomous remarks were expected to be met with words and not fists. So it was that Light found himself taking his afternoon coffee next to a plastic ficus, ensconced in a hideously upholstered chair of burn orange, long gone springy and soft with age. He took a deep sip of his coffee, catching a stray drop with his tongue before it could roll down and mar the white porcelain of the cup. Good coffee, fresh and perfectly brewed with water not too hot, with no time spent sitting on a burner to be burnt and soured, had a rich sweetness of its own. Delicate though it was, that simply made it all the more important to savor. And for as long as it took him to finish his cup, that’s exactly what Light planned on doing.

Laughter in the corner jostled Light from his meditations, slowly he lifted his gaze from his cup to the room at large. People more milled around than lined up next to the counter where the coffee maker and toaster oven sat like two glittering beacons, promising relief from the afternoon malaise that seemed to infect the whole office at once. At around 3:30, weary workers began trickling in for a decadent espresso or flaky pastry to help them through the last stretch until freedom. 

Depending on the day of the week the mood at the afternoon sugar rush changed. Even though he’d rarely used the room over the years Light had been able to decipher the shifting moods of his co-workers, how could he not. Mondays were subdued things. No one made eye contact and any attempt at humor was shut down with annoyed glares or a cold retort. 

Tuesdays were little better. The inevitability of the work week fully taken hold and bitter acceptance made. Topics of the break room were strictly professional, no one even tried to bring up the weekend or after work affairs. Coffees were drank quickly, snacks had standing up. Eaten so fast they were little more than crumbs on the floor just minutes after acquisition. Wednesdays were fraught with false cheer as people tried and failed to believe that the week being half over took away from the fact that there was still half a week left. 

Thursdays were a strange beast all on their own. Friday hung over their heads like a promise, ephemeral and just out of reach. The balance between the work week and the weekend was a delicate thing, look to hard at it and it might break, ignore it and you risk it sneaking up on you unaware. The break room would be filled with the soft buzz of murmured small talk as frazzled workers stared into their coffees more than drinking them and half eaten pastries were abandoned to turn cold and soggy on their plates. 

And then, there was Fridays. 

The group of most alphas sent another round of booming laughter through the room, several of them slapped each other on the backs with knowing grins. On any other day such boisterous displays of emotions would be met with sullen and angered looks. On any other day it wouldn’t be seen as merry or welcomed. The joy of the few bolstered the moods of the many, and even those who had no idea what brought on all this mirth found themselves relaxing as the holiday air of Friday took hold. 

Even Light smiled softly to himself, sipping his coffee and waiting for a time when he could sink into a gloriously steaming bath with a nice glass of wine. The buoyant chatter faded into white noise as Light mentally chose which of his favorite scents he’d use in his bath that night, until his name was shouted from across the room. 

Light looked up lazily to the little pack of alphas by the coffee maker, blinking at them curiously as he said, fond but exasperated, “I’m sorry what?”

“Don’t bother, Nobu,” Tatsuko, a lilith female alpha who worked across the hall from Light said. “Light has never gone out with us, she isn’t going to agree now.” 

Light sighed and fought not to roll his eyes. This again. 

“Why?” Nobu asked, “I didn’t think she had a mate….Even if she does It’s not like having an omega means you can’t go out and have a little fun anyway.” 

Tatsuko gave a snort of laughter that was quickly joined by the others in their little group. Nobu was new to the office and clearly perturbed at not being in on the joke. “Light is too proud of her status as a bachelor to go out and find herself an omega.” Tatsuko took a sip of her own coffee before continuing in a faux whisper that carried clearly to Light, just as she’d wanted. “And she’s too much of a prude to go out to the omega joints with us after work.”

Light blew out an exhausted sigh, so much for making this place his retreat. “Just because my idea of a good time doesn’t involve popping a knot in the same room as a bunch of other alphas who are probably far more drunk and desperate than I, doesn’t make me a prude, Tatsu. Besides.” Light’s mouth twisted in distaste as he went on, “You can call them omega joints all you want, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re full of nothing but petite betas wearing scent modifiers.” The real ‘omega joints’ were all underground and very illegal. He had read a few of his father’s files when he’d left them out in his home office to know that they were nothing but slave trade funded prostitution rings. 

Night clubs, both respectable and otherwise, were ran by alphas and hosted small betas that could easily be masked as omegas. They were selling illusions, and even if it wasn’t the right kind of bait for Light, he wouldn’t be interested in biting. 

“Tell me again how that doesn’t make you a prude?” Tatsuko said snidely, the room tittered around them as everyone had stopped their own conversations to listen in on theirs. 

Light was just about to say his final piece, something to the effect of him not being satisfied with placebos like other, inefficient alphas, but his words died on his tongue as the last voice he wanted to hear chimed in from out of nowhere

“Clearly Light chan is an alpha of discernible tastes,” Light snapped his eyes to Ryuzaki who had somehow managed to enter the room, snag a piece of cake from the fridge, who’s ever cake it actually was Light didn’t know….they were certainly in for some disappointment later, furthermore he had managed all of this and sat on the chair right next to Light, without Light realizing it had even happened. He smirked at the Light’s furiously confused glare as he took a large bite of cake, which he didn’t have the decency to finish eating before he spoke again. “Who ever would have guessed.”

“What the hell are you doing here!” Light nearly shrieked, unable to hold onto his cool facade as it promptly flew out the window. 

“Tell me, Light chan,” Ryuzaki said as if Light hadn’t spoken at all. “If betas pretending to be omegas is not you thing, perhaps you might know where I can find some omegas pretending to be betas.” 

“How did you even get on this floor, you need a code a for the lift?!” 

“What’s wrong, Light chan?” Ryuzaki asked in his terribly frustrating monotone. “Do you not like me being in your territory? Are you feeling threatened?”

If Light had been able to actually growl like the alpha he posed as, he would have right then and there. Professional decorum be damned! All the suppressants and blockers he took may have been fantastic, sheer miracles of modern medicine, but they couldn’t grant him the actual physical traits of an alpha. That had never been a problem before. 

It had been years since someone had challenged him over anything….

He could not, under any circumstances, get into any sort of a fight with Ryuzaki. Not here, not now. At least not with his fists. 

There was a difference between walking away with one's tail between their legs, and walking out the victor of a battle of wits. He took a firm hold of his anger, condensing it down to a razor’s edge. But the time he set his coffee on the table and turned to view Ryuzaki fully, all traces of anger was gone from his face. His golden eyes cold, devoid of any and all emotion. He had practice this look in the mirror for years. It was the look that won him cases. When others fell back on their anger, Light had cool clarity. 

“This is an office building, Ryuzaki san, show a little respect. We are all intelligent adults, not animals. And this is no one’s territory.” He sighed, tossing his hair back lazily before rising from his seat. “You’re in the civilized world, now. If you’re looking for a fight might I suggest the mixed martial arts arena a few blocks over? Because you won’t find one here.” 

Laughter from around the room settled like a balm to his nerves, they might get on his nerves from time to time. Get into snips with each other when things got a little boring around the office. But Light had spent years working his way into everyone’s good graces. They may be a group of blood thirsty lawyers and their ruthless assistants, but they were loyal to their own. 

Saying that this wasn’t Light’s territory wasn’t exactly the truth. 

“If you’ll be so kind as to excuse me, I have some work to do before I can call it a week.” He turned and strolled to the door without looking back. Before he could leave the room though he was met with a very sweaty, very haggard looking Teru.

“Ryuzaki san!” He gasped, in equal part relief and horror as he took in Light and his chilly facade. “Light, I was only supposed to show him around the conference rooms and the common areas, but he got away from me.” 

Shaking his head incredulously Light looked back at Ryuzaki, who simply shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat the stolen cake. Light turned back to Teru with a forced smile. “Maybe go collect him, and show him the door.”

“I have permission to take a tour.” Ryuzaki chirped gayly from his seat. 

“Just get him out now. His tour is over.” Light said to Teru, completely ignoring Ryuzaki. “I’ll deal with Sasaki if there’s any trouble, okay.” Teru nodded and so Light left him to it. 

There really wasn’t anything for Light to do that afternoon. He had been planning on going over all his moves that week. Quadruple check that he hadn’t left a single thread out of place. Now though, all he wanted was to get out. 

He sent a quick message to Sasaki saying that, do to outside stressors, he would be finishing his day working from home. Sasaki owed Light some huge favors and wouldn’t say anything against him….probably ever. Light could probably walk into his office and declare that it was now his and all Sasaki would probably do is laugh, go out for a coffee and just let Light work in his office for however long he wanted. 

He packed up quickly, stuffing his laptop and any file he thought he might want over the weekend into his bag before heading for the parking garage. Why had he even thought that the office was the place to find some peace? He should have just called in and stayed in bed. He tossed his bag into his back seat and slammed the door with a relieved sigh, soon, sweet freedom. 

Behind him an empty can rolled across the abandoned garage. He already knew who he would see before he even turned, that didn’t make the sight of Ryuzaki any more enjoyable as he shuffled forward with his hands stuffed into his his jean pockets, looking for all the world like this was exactly where he belonged. It ate at his every nerve. 

“Having trouble finding your car, detective?” Light asked with false cheer. “I know how difficult parking garages can be to navigate. You can ask for help at that little window near entrance.”

“I didn’t mean to hit such a nerve, Light chan.” Ryuzaki came at a stop beside Light’s car, which he eyed with an odd sort of wonder, running a finger over the polished silver paint as though checking for dust. “You didn’t have to run off on my account.”

Light reigned in his scowl before Ryuzaki could see it. It wasn’t bad enough that he had to invade Light’s place of work, now he had to run his sticky hands off over Light’s clean car? “It was getting late and I can finish up at home. You didn’t have anything to do with me leaving.” He gritted out through his teeth. 

“Of course.” Ryuzaki said with a nod, he did not sound as though he believed Light. “Was it the dig about encroaching on your territory that did it?” 

Light turned on him and opened his car door, he would not be having it out with Ryuzaki in the middle of a parking garage. 

“Because it couldn’t have been the bit about omegas.” Ryuzaki went on unphased. “It’s obvious by your taking on Hatori’s case that you don’t care about them very much.” 

That’s it. Light slammed the door shut as he turned to face Ryuzaki. He might have been several inches shorter than him….well maybe closer to a foot, not that it mattered. But the burning of his golden eyes had Ryuzaki taking a step back all the same. “I don’t care about omegas?” He asked, his voice frighteningly low. “Because I won’t stand up for the alphas that imprison them and call it love? Tell me, Ryuzaki san, just how is it that you care for omegas as you hunt down the few who want to see them live free and equal lives?” 

Ryuzaki took another step back as Light approached him, his eyes were large and frightened, not that Light could enjoy it. Once he began it was as though a floodgate had been released. The words tumbling out of his mouth before he could control them, let alone think about them. “You have no idea what it’s like to fear that your whole world will be ripped from you. You’ll never know the anger of an unfair system turned against you, or the utter helplessness of knowing that if, by a force of nature completely out of your control, you presented in a certain way there would be nothing you or anyone could do to stop your fate from being sealed.” 

“I care,” Light breathed, his rage boiling over into something white hot and molten. “I care about being a voice for those who have been denied one by a society that only claims to protect them.” Breathing hard Light took in the alpha before him. Tall, lean, with the messiest hair he’d ever seen and clothes so rumpled that Light wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he’d simply fallen into a laundry basket and walked out in whatever stuck to him. He was nothing. Just a knotheaded alpha who wanted to keep this broken world going because it benefited him. 

Again Light turned his back on Ryuzaki and opened his car door, but just before getting in Light glared at him over his shoulder. “In what way do you care about omegas, Ryuzaki san?” Light asked again. “In what way do you care about justice? Walking in, dressed like a crazed homeless man, picking petty fights with your opposition instead doing actual detective work. I hope L knows what a sad excuse of an alpha he has representing him.” With that Light slammed the door and drove off. Ryuzaki had to jump out of the way as he pealed out of the spot. 

The drive home was a hazy blur of lights and horns, and for all Light knew he was the cause of them. He couldn’t focus on the road or other drivers, just the words that he had spoken, in anger and stupidity, to Ryuzaki. He couldn’t have said how he made it home, or up the stairs to his flat, or even how he got through his front door. His senses came back in fits and starts. He wasn’t surprised when he opened his eyes to find himself in his bathtub, the shower running full blast. 

The water was scolding, but it felt like the silkiest of balms on his aching skin. It had been years since he’d gone up against someone like that, let alone an alpha. Ryuzaki smelled like warm cinnamon and wood smoke, and Light had caused that scent to tarnish and sour. Everything in him was telling him to go back to that alpha and make it right. But he couldn't….he wouldn't! He was Light Mother Fucking Yagami and he had trained his entire life to be able to hold it together against anyone. Even some pushy, disgusting alpha.

He knew what to do to make the pain stop, to reign in the instincts and sooth his nature. And the first step was a scalding hot bath with a lot of strongly scented soap. He kept some on hand just for these moments, when he could indulge, become the omega he never let himself be. He had a few bottles, fresh rose, ripe berries, and warm chocolate, when mixed together they smelled very much like his natural scent. Switching the shower to the tap, Light plugged the tub and thanked his dazed self for having the foresight to undress before getting into the shower….that wasn’t always the case. 

He took his time relaxing in the bath of frothy, sweet smelling bubbles. He lathered his hair and slicked his body with the combined soaps. It was as close to his natural scent as he could get without stopping his suppressant vitamins, and over the years he’d learned to think of it as his own. It was enough to calm his instincts at least, making the quivering omega inside him think it was safe in its own den. 

When he could stay in the bath no longer he dried off and put on an old and comfortable set of pjs. Well, it was nothing but a pair of baggy gym shorts and an oversized To-Oh shirt, but it had seen him through many a trying night. Dry and comfortable Light went about getting ready for the last thing he would need to do before his nerves would be fully satisfied. It required two bottles of wine, one glass, a whole heap of blankets and pillows on his couch, and whatever movie he found first. 

He had his glass on the counter and was just picking out which two bottles he’d partack in that night, when the doorbell rang. Because of course it did, it was just his luck. It was probably his father, or Sayu, having heard by the grapevine that Light had ducked out after a confrontation with their newest acquaintance and wanting to check up on him. All he wanted was to make something he could later claim was not a nest, and get knee walking drunk to help cloud out this day from his memories. 

With a groan he went to the door and peeked through the hole, his hand already reaching for the lock froze when he saw, not his father or sister, but the messy black hair and sharp collar bones of Ryuzaki as he slouched before the door. “What the hell do you want?” He didn’t bother asking how Ryuzaki knew to find him. Just because he dressed like a vagrant didn’t mean he actually was one. 

Ryuzaki cleared his throat loudly, shuffling from foot to foot as though nervous. “I um….I came to….Will you open the door?”

“No.” Light said flatly.

“I deserve that.” Ryuzaki sighed, running a hand roughly through his hair. “Look, you’re right. I didn’t think, but….you are, well, you were a gamma….so you probably did have to worry about becoming an omega when you were little, and I’m sure that was hard. I mean….I couldn’t imagine.” He blew out another sigh, this one more frantic than the last. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, Yagami san.” 

Light pressed a hand against the door trying to suppress a sigh of his own. He seemed sincere enough….he had never actually called Light, Yagami san, before at the very least. It was something. Besides that little part of him that was still frazzled for pushing his instincts to their breaking point wanted to see this through. Get the apology….maybe give one of his own, and then get drunk. Perfect! Light opened the door, fully aware that for once he probably looked a good deal less put together than Ryuzaki with his hair hanging down in wet strings and in his ratty old pjs. But he opened the door all the same. 

Ryuzaki’s eyes bugged for a moment as he took in Light’s appearance. “You look lovely, smell better too.” He said cheerily, giving a little sniff in Light’s direction, to which Light gave him a glare and a middle finger. “Right, right….so as I was saying, You were right to be upset today, I...may have been at your place of work only to get a reaction out of you….it wasn’t the one I was expecting.” He gave Light a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry for the way I’ve been behaving with you, Yagami san.”

Light leaned against the open door and crossed his arms lazily over his chest. He made a little show I thinking about Ryuzaki’s words, relishing in the little twitch of his eyebrow when Light didn’t forgive him right away. “I accept you apology, Ryuzaki san. On the condition that you stop these little games. They’re nothing but distractions and we both have actual work to do.” 

Ryuzaki nodded. “That’s fair.” he said with a smirk, “ For what it’s worth, the invitation to play tennis was real, and it still stands.” 

“Oh?” Light had been sure it was just another dig at Light’s stature, like when he had shouted at Light to not cross the streets by himself as he left the NPA one afternoon. He hadn’t missed an opportunity to liken Light to a child since they’d met. 

“Yes,” Ryuzaki’s smile was, for once, a real thing. “I read in your file that you used play in school, so did I. I think we have a lot in common, Yagami san….I would like the opportunity to start over.”

“I haven’t played in years, but…” Light glanced over to his closet, “I still have my racket….I suppose one game couldn’t hurt.” 

“Fantastic!” Ryuzaki rocked back on his heels with a triumphant look on his face. “We can set it up for whenever you’re free. I’m free all weekend, as it turns out.” 

Light sighed….he was not giving up his whole weekend for a tennis match. “Sunday, maybe. I have plans for tomorrow.” Which included not leaving the comfort of his couch and possibly some delivery food.

“Of course, of course.” Ryuzaki rubbed the back of his neck, once again shy, “Sunday is good. I’ll send you an email about the details?”

“Sure, and,” Light took a deep breath, inadvertently taking in Ryuzaki’s scent with it, spicy, smoky, and clean. It was far from unpleasant, especially with the genuine joy that laced through it now. “I’m sorry as well, for losing my head this afternoon. It wasn’t like me at all.” 

Ryuzaki shook his head furiously, sending his hair flying in every direction. “Nope, it’s all my fault. And for the record, you were right….I have been a sorry excuse for an alpha since we’ve met….maybe even before. That was part of the thinking I had been doing….Maybe it’s time for a different approach.”

“Well, I look forward to getting to know this new, Ryuzaki.” Light gave him a little smirk. Like he was really going to let his guard down because Ryuzaki wanted to play friends. This wasn’t his first rodeo, and Ryuzaki couldn’t possibly think that Light would take his bait hook, line, and sinker. But if it was a game he wanted, Light would gladly play along.

“Me too, Yagami san.”

“Please, call me Light. Just Light.” He said a little sternly. He might strangle Ryuzaki right here and now if he went back to that Light chan shit. 

“Okay, Light.” He said the name with a little smile, stuffing his hands into his jeans he took a few steps back, but lingered. His large dark eyes never leaving Light’s. “I should go, but...earlier you said something. That L would be ashamed to know how sorry of an alpha I was.” His smile turned playful, his eyes glinted in the low light of the hall lamps. “But you see, L knows exactly what kind of alpha I’ve been.” 

Light snorted, “Does he keep you bugged or something?”

Ryuzaki laughed softly, “Not quite.” Stepping back to the door and leaning towards Light he spoke in a comically secretive whisper. “You see, just between you and me.” His eyes glinted ferally for just a moment as he imparted his final secret.

“I am L.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and welcome back! 
> 
> I hope everyone is doing well, I somehow caught the flu, despite never being around other people....which just makes it suck that much more....But it's okay now, or it's getting there at least. 
> 
> I'm so happy by the response to this story! Everyone who is angry at L, just know that your I find your anger both delicious and hilarious. That "Enemies to Friends to Lovers" is no joke. Though I think we'll be headed into the "Friend" part soon. Let us all remember that L was something of a dick to Light in canon as well, at least at first, that's just how he is. 
> 
> I don't think I have much to say, I can't recall any pressing questions, though feel free to ask them, if you have them! 
> 
> If you followed me on Tumblr you might have noticed that my blogs no longer exist. Between the idiocy of the purge, and the fact that after all their new measure to "Get Rid" of NSFW things I was bombarded with bots more than I've ever been before....I left. You can find me on [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/Ars-Matron) and follow me on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/j.k_jones/) I'm trying to get the hang of using Pillowfort more, but it's still rather slow. I use Instagram the most.   
> I suppose that's all for now. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I can't thank you guys enough to sticking with it!!! 
> 
> Next Time!  
> A tennis match, and maybe the start of a new friendship!


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for a tennis match?!

Chapter 4

 

“Prove it.”

The shock on Ryuzaki’s face was, for lack of a better word, delicious. It was impossible to not take enjoyment from disarming him, if only for a moment. So Light leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms once again, the picture of relaxed and comfortable as Ryuzaki took a step back and blinked at him with large grey eyes. 

“W-wha-”

“You say you are L, and I want you to prove it.” Light tilted his head, fixing Ryuzaki with as much of an innocent look as he could muster. “You don’t really expect me to just believe that, do you? I mean, an almost complete stranger tells me he’s L, and L’s never appeared on Television or any newspapers so it isn’t like I would know his face if I saw it, so it would be rather foolish of me to just blindly believe him. Now wouldn’t it?”

Ryuzaki’s mouth opened and closed several times, like a giant moored fish, before he took a hold of himself, ran a hand through his bushy hair and pouted. “Well I hardly keep an ID on me with my real name.”

Light laughed softly at the notion. The real L probably didn’t have a real ID….”How convenient.”

“I’m telling the tru-” 

“I’m more than willing to let bygones be gone at the wayside, especially after how I acted this afternoon and after your apology. But I won’t,” Light’s voice shifted from pleasant to a deadly growl in an instant, dropping his arms he took a step forward, forcing Ryuzaki back. “I won’t, allow you to stand in my doorway and lie to my face.”

Ryuzaki lifted his arms in defense, “It’s not a lie, I promise. But you can’t expect me to just be able to prove it on the spot.”

“Then why bring it up?”

Ryuzaki sighed. “I….didn’t think it through.” 

“Not really helping your case, here.” Light smirked. He rather hoped that Ryuzaki was telling the truth. How often could he say he’d made the world’s greatest detective sweat in his hallway?

“For obvious reasons I can’t just go around telling everyone,” He continued to pout, and Light just drank it all up. “Only a trusted few are allowe-” Ryuzaki’s lips formed perfect ‘O’ before curling into a broad smile. “I know!” But instead of saying anything, he tipped his head back and laughed. 

“What?” Light crossed his arms with a frown. It was all fun and games making Ryuzaki so worked up, but he hadn’t wanted to make him go insane. 

Ryuzaki fixed him with that large goofy smile oh his. “Call your father and ask him.” 

“He knows?” Light said flatly, eyes narrowed. Soichirou had never mentioned it. But then….would he?

“I told him yesterday,” Ryuzaki tilted his head, running a thoughtful finger over his lips. “Or the day before, I forget which. But ask him, he can confirm it. Well, I’m off.” He said, all in quick succession, barely taking a breath. Without further ado he turned on his heel and slouched off down the hall, turning back to Light just before rounding the corner. “I’ll see you Sunday!” 

Light was left staring at the place he had been, either he was completely mad, or Light’s father would be able to confirm everything. One thing was for sure, Ryuzaki….or possibly L, was one strange alpha. 

Light closed and locked the door behind him. He plucked a bottle of wine from the rack without even looking to see what it was, nor did he grab a glass. He had just enough forethought to scrape up the corkscrew before falling onto his couch and burrowing into the not-nest. He pierced the cork with undo force and began to twist, his mind racing even as his limbs ached, growing weary after so many confrontations in such a short amount of time. 

If Ryuzaki was L did that really change things? Light already knew he needed to be extremely careful. Slipping up wouldn’t just put him in danger, but if Ryuzaki thought anything Light had recorded about Hatori was suspect all the work he’d done to assure the safety of his clients could be for naught. An underling might be willing to slack off….Light still believed that after a month of two things would die down and the case wouldn’t be so much of a media frenzy any longer. A representative for the detective might get bored of such a case and just phone it in the trial was over. The gods know that those at NPA would have by then. Even his father would have a hard time keeping everyone focused for so long. 

In the end Hatori would see jail time, the end of his career, and probably ostracization by his community. When he was released he would probably have to leave the country and start over. All of which were things that Light had told him to be prepared for during their meetings. Such an outcome would neither be a shock, nor would it break him. Hatori was strong. He was a good man who cared about his family and his clients alike. He was one of the good few who dreamed of an equal future. 

In a better world his discoveries would be held as miracles of modern science and used to move society into a brighter, healthier future. 

With a mighty yank Light pulled the cork free and once he found the edge of his blanket cocoon, tossed the screw with the cork still attacked carelessly out from under it. It landed somewhere in the vicinity of his coffee table, if the massive clang was anything to go by. He took several deep gulps of wine before leaning back into his pillows with a sigh, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. 

L.

….if Ryuzaki was really L that might change things. 

It meant that not only did he not see the case as the throwaway tabloid grabber for the sort of gossip magazines Sayu enjoyed, which was how Light saw it. And had hoped that others would see it that way too. It meant that L himself had deemed the case important enough to come out and solve it. 

Light didn’t realize he’d starting shaking until he’d lifted the bottle for another drink and had been unable to keep the rim from dancing off of his lips. He had promised to spend time him….this possible L. He would be looking for any slip up, any at all, that would give away what he knew of Hatori’s work. He knew that already of course, but he had been hoping that Ryuzaki was maybe not all that perceptive….L wouldn’t miss a thing.

He rested the half empty bottle on his stomach with hands that trembled on slightly. He would just have to make sure there were no slip ups. No loose threads to snag, no leads that L could follow. Every move he made needed to be planned and every scenario accounted for. 

Only when the bottle lay empty on the floor did Light emerge from under the blankets, sliding the soft, fuzzy material from his head to wrap around his shoulders. With an arm that swayed beyond his control, he took up the remote and turned a random movie on, not caring what it might be. He leaned his head back, just for a moment. He would rest his eyes, then he would think. 

He had to plan out his next moves carefully before Sunday arrived. 

 

~~~

 

It would be easy to blame the whole thing on those damned scent blockers. And certainly they did play a part. How was one supposed to know when they crossed a line when they couldn’t actually sense anything from their opponent? It wasn’t his fault that he hadn’t realized how close to cracking he had pushed Light until she blew up at him. 

Not that he would take it back. He had gotten some valuable information about Light out of it. She had more integrity and character than he had originally given her credit for. Little princess had a back bone and a real sense of justice, a drive to protect that may have rivaled his own. It had been surprising. And oddly enticing. 

Of course the rational thing to do would have been to just leave it at that. Meet again as equals in the NPA, maybe during an interrogation session, and casually extend an olive branch. Afterwards he could build a friendship on this little bridge of trust. It would probably take weeks, there would be a lot of sitting around and waiting. 

He was glad he hadn’t listened to that rational thought. 

The halls of Light’s building spoke to the quality of the establishment. Cute little accent tables draped in lace, holding pretty glazed vases and fresh flower were spaced down the halls. The carpet was soft and clean, as new as the cheery wallpaper and frosted glass sconces. And a little scent blocking air freshener was plugged into the wall next to each door. It spoke of safety. Of happy homes with a well protected omega and many children. It wasn’t odd that it would appeal to an alpha….it was just that alphas who went after such a residence usually already had a family they wanted to protect. 

But the building also spoke of wealth. Which was probably why little miss bachelor princess liked it. Her Not-Friends at work most likely drooled over her luxury apartment. L smirked as he passed another tasteful watercolor of a serene lake speckled with puffy pink flowers, masterfully picturesque and boring, Light probably ate up their jealousy like delicious dessert. 

Once he found Light’s door it was only natural that it wouldn’t open for him. Of course Light was still angry. No one drives off in a blind rage and gets over it within two hours. Putting his pride aside L gave the real, respectful apology that he knew would be the only thing to begin mending the bridge between them. All in all it had worked out much better than he had expected. Show Light Yagami a little respect, as it turned out, and she was much more pleasant to be around. 

Who knew.

Then every cogent thought L had stored up on proper apology etiquette soon became jumbled with the list of things he had coached himself not to say when Light actually opened her door. Luckily the only thing that came out of his mouth unprompted was sarcasm and not something much worse. Like how shocking it was to see Light not just with her hair down, but three shades darker from being wet. Or how exhausted and almost sickly she looked without makeup. Seeing her stripped of the glowing, golden beauty, clad in formless faded clothing had L jumping from poised apologetic to dumbstruck very quickly. 

It didn’t help that Light smelled very….sweet. Artificial, but nice. The whole picture tugged at his instincts just a bit too much for his liking. 

He certainly didn’t linger on the scent long after leaving Light to gape after him in her doorway. Nor did he keep going back to how odd it was that she, even in the privacy of her own home, would still use scent blockers….And what would be the point of hiding one’s scent and then applying several artificially sweet scents over it? Vanity, perhaps. Maybe Light didn’t care for her natural pheromones….it was an interesting thought that deserved further looking into, but it wasn't something he should be focusing on now.

However, this particular intrigue, no matter how much he tried not to let it cloud his true mission, might have had something to do with the tennis court L booked, and with his showing up an hour earlier than his email said he would. He definitely didn’t feel an amazing sense of smugness when Light pulled into the parking lot forty five minutes earlier than their scheduled meeting time, nor did he smirk when he leaned over to wave enthusiastically at her through before she got out of the car. 

To her credit Light didn’t seem at all put out at being caught trying to sneak into the gym before him. She hid any anger or embarrassment she might have been feeling towards him expertly, getting out of her car in her usual flowy, fluid motion, tossing her long hair back like a golden wave. Light crossed the short distance to him, gym bag slung over her shoulder, flowery sundress snapping in the wind. 

L peeled himself off the wall when Light got him, he stuffed his hands into his pockets, no longer hiding his smirk. “So, I guess you talked to your dad?”

Light grimaced, and it couldn’t have been written off as anything else. “I did.” her tone was curt. 

L cocked his head, “And?”

Light sighed, and her defeat was so so sweet. “And you’re L. Or at least you’ve convinced my father that you are.”

“Oh, Light.” L said with a shake of his head. “There’s no need to get all grumpy because you couldn’t figure it out on your own. You are a lawyer, after all, not a detective.” Light looked like she wanted to growl, but she didn’t. Nor did any hint of an angry alpha scent waft to him….how annoying. “It is, of course, imperative to keep referring to me as Ryuzaki in public. Can’t have my cover blown, now can we?”

“Then why tell me?”

Oooo, what a good question. L’s grin was all teeth. “Because it’s what friends do.”

Light huffed before smiling slightly. “I need to go in, Ryuzaki. Stake out a locker and all that.” 

She turned towards the door, L falling into step beside her. He pulled two keys from his pocket and jangled them out in front of them. “Oh I already did that, Light. I did arrive a bit early,” Yes, earlier than you Light, isn’t that just grand? “So I thought It would be the friendly thing to do to get us lockers before the rush.” He handed a key to Light, his smile large and vague. No he didn’t have any idea that such a thing would greatly mess with Light and her need to have everything her way. 

She took the key without saying anything, though she gripped the handle of her bag a little more tightly, her delicate fingers turning white on the leather grip. She followed L into the locker room, and L had to look very closely to see how much she didn’t like that L had given her the locker to the right of his. 

“Did you have a good weekend, Light?” He had to bite his tongue to not say ‘chan’. She was just so small, and it was such a cute thing to say. And best of all it made her so very angry. “You certainly look well rested.” Either that or she was wearing makeup….to a tennis match. Which seemed awfully vain and pointless as it would surely run when she sweated. But then, Light did care an awful lot about looks. 

“It went exactly as I had hoped.” Light’s voice, though pleasant enough, was stiff. Through the cracks in the locker L watched as she pulled clothes from her bag, likewise L focused on getting changed himself. He had booked a court for them for the whole day….not that he expected Light to last that long. She was thin and small and probably couldn’t keep up with him for more than a few hours. Plenty of time for him to achieve his goals.

L preferred comfort and ease when picking his clothing, tight clothes were restricting and could mean the difference between life and death if he suddenly found himself in a fight. Then of course there was style. It wasn’t only easier for him to wear simple, plain clothing, but not having to take the time to actually pick out an outfit really freed up his mind for more important things. Not to mention wearing things that would stand out would….well….stand out. He couldn’t risk drawing too much attention to himself.

His workout clothes fell into that category well, both the shorts and shirt were of a breezy material with light blue, ordinary stripes. Comfortable. Easy. Hassle free. 

Taking up his racket L slammed his locker shut and turned to Light. Luckily she had changed just as quickly. L didn’t mind nudity, it was just another part of life. But some people were touchy about non family or close friends seeing them in the buff. The chances of Light being such a person was quite high, especially given how her co-workers spoke of her. It was better to not ruffle her feathers so soon in their newborn friendship. 

Light seemed to prefer a little more flash to her outfits, even ones that were just going to get wrinkled and sweaty. Both her shirt and short skirt were a striking bright red with decorative white piping, and a little logo of a tiny tennis player in white was on her left shoulder.

Flashy. 

Even her shoes were red….L cocked his head as Light placed a foot on the bench behind her to tie her last shoe. Really, she had such small feet….it was so odd for an alpha. How small must her grandfather have been? L shook his head and tried not to be too concerned with Light’s long long legs and small bone structure. Not that L really had much to go by as far as knowing what the standard size for alphas in Japan was…..nor, honestly, did he care. 

Light straightened up, pulling a black hair elastic from her pocket she raked her narrowed, golden eyes over him as she began tying back her hair. 

“Something wrong, Light?” L smirked, twirling his racket in his hands absently.

Light, to her credit, only scowled as she walked by and simply said, “I’m just surprised you have real sports shoes.” What a herculean strength it must have taken to hold back whatever else she wanted to say.

How impressive.

Chuckling to himself, L followed her out of the locker room, excited to finally see Light break a sweat.

 

~~~

 

Light gasped, bending over to catch his breath and wipe some sweat from his brow. They were several hours in, the sun blazing over their heads, and still L didn’t seem to tire. Stupid alpha endurance! Light wouldn’t be feeling so winded if he’d actually kept up any sort of physical activity. But all the alphas he knew were large and naturally held onto muscle for years without trying, it hadn't seemed like a good idea to keep playing against them once he had left school. And It would be seen as not only weak, but insensitive for him to play against a beta, as then they would bee Light as having the unfair advantage. So Light had simply not carried on with this particular exercise. 

Why the hell had he thought this was a good idea again?

Across the court L stretched leisurely, twisting his arms so that he could scratch his back with his racket. That’s right, it wasn’t as though L actually looked like could last that long. But his years sitting behind a computer, solving crimes and eating his weight in cake didn’t seem to have slowed him down any.   
Without his long sleeved shirts and baggy jeans it was possible to see that, though L was slender, it was all lean muscle and there was no actual thinness to him. 

Light checked his watch, wondering if it was too early to call it all off already. Today was going to end with a very hot bath to try and fight the discomfort that was sure to be his life tomorrow. He was just about to invent some fake work that he only suddenly remembered, when a water bottle filled his vision. 

“You look thirsty, Light.” L’s voice was always singular, monotone. As though nothing could ever faze him, please him, or even anger him. 

Light accepted the water with a breathy, thanks, still too winded to really want to talk more. L, of course, didn’t have this problem. 

“It’s been a lot of fun playing against you today, Light.” His smile was big, toothy, like he wasn’t used to performing it for others. “I have to say you’re much better than I thought you would be. I can’t believe you won the second and fifth matches.” Those two matches had been a very close call and L knew it. 

Light took another deep breath of air. “It’s been a….very long time since I’ve played. I’m a little out of practice.” In the process of swiping a loose strand of hair from his face, Light glanced at his watch. 

“In that case, maybe we should it call it a day. Maybe you would like to get a coffee with me?”

“Coffee?” Light raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes. I hear it’s the thing people do with another with whom they are friends.” L explained, and though his voice never wavered his eyes shone brightly with mirth. “Meet up with each other-”

“I get it-”

“At the same cafe-”

“Ryuzaki-”

“Enjoy a warm beverage while staring at each other-”

 

“Yes, okay!” Even through his exasperation Light couldn’t help but smile. 

“Yes to the coffee?” L smirked back at him.

“Yes, to the coffee. But first.” Light flicked more sweat from his brow with disgust. “Showers.” 

L shrugged but he followed Light back to the locker room all the same. Coffee did actually sound good. A little something to help him wind down and perk him up enough to get through the rest of the day, otherwise he might have just went home and crashed on his couch until he’d have to pull himself up for work in the morning. It would be nice to have enough energy to mentally prepare for his meetings, and-

“Are you sniffing me?” Light turned from stashing his racket in the locker to find L a scant few inches from the back of his neck. The jerk didn’t even have the courtesy to look ashamed at being caught. 

“It’s curious.” He said smoothly. “That we have been playing for hours, and that you have been sweating for most of that time out in the hot sun, and yet, I can’t even get a hint of your scent.”

“It isn’t ‘curious’,” Light sighed, taking up a small bag of toiletries from his gym bag. “It’s called scent blockers. Most people learn about them during puberty, or do they not have deodorant in Europe?”

L ran an inquisitive finger over his bottom lip, eyeing Light like he was the greatest puzzle. “Scent blockers wear off though. Even the best can only stand up to so much sweat and pheromone production. There should be something of your scent coming through.”

Light grit his teeth as he turned to head towards the showers. Stupid, observant bastard! “I take suppressants.” 

Behind him L gasped, quickly he placed himself between Light the shower room. “Long term use of suppressants have devastating effects, Light, you should only take them sparingly. Though,” He tilted his head in thought. “Your file said you’ve never missed work....I should have realized.” It was like he wasn’t even talking to Light now, lost in his own little world. 

“All of the studies say that they are completely harmless, only looked down upon for those who might be wanting to mate later on. Though even then, fertility rates go back to normal after a year of going off suppressants 89.9% of the time. Virtually harmless.” Light quoted, almost bored of the topic. 

The truth was that suppressants, for either heats or ruts, were all harmless. Light had been curious of any ill side effects he might have when he first started his regimen and had requested a full account of his doctor’s finding. He would have taken them even if there were risks, he simply wanted to be prepared for the worse. The fact that his doctor had found nothing to support the claims that an omega would become ill, go insane, or every other idiotic statement that politicians liked to claim would befall an omega should they suppress, had been his first wake up call at just how frustratingly oppressive the system was to his kind. 

If they ever found Hatori’s records they would probably find the same discoveries and propositions within them, and make sure they would stay hidden for the rest of time. 

He moved around L once more, eager to be surrounded by warm water and away from him....until L’s soft voice caught his hear. “That’s not the reason,” His voice was still dazed, still mostly musing to himself. “They are a hindrance to productivity.”

Well, that was a new one. 

Light turned back to face him, it would be interesting to see where he was going with this. 

“Ruts happen three times a year, give or take.” L’s voice was stronger, as though he finally realized he was actually talking to another person. “During which time if an alpha is mated all their focus goes to said mate. Making sure they are healthy, and safe, and happy, and whatever. But, if an alpha is unmated that hyper focus must find another outlet.” 

L shuffled towards him, the locker room wasn’t completely empty, though most chose to just ignore the two of them as the stood in the middle of the room debating suppressants. L certainly didn't seem to notice them as he went on. “Now for the young alphas that’s often finding another alpha to fight and dominate. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you what it’s like.”

Light didn’t shift or squirm under L’s too dark gaze, oddly focused, unblinking. But it was a struggle. He couldn’t in fact remember, or even know, what that focus and energy was like. He didn’t even know the pain and helplessness of a heat. It was better to just remain quiet, let L talk it all out. 

Then escape. 

“However, I learned that if one doesn’t have those distractions, no mate, no actual adversary, then that focus can be applied to anything I want.”

Light swallowed dryly. “So you go through ruts....because they make you more?”

“Productive!” He chirped, triumphant. “I’m over 50% more productive if I keep having ruts than if I suppress, I’ve ran several tests. You should try it, I’m sure you’ll see I’m right.”

“I’m sure you are.” Light agreed softly, turning on him again. He entered the shower without further ado, happy that there were changing benches in them that he could have some sort of privacy. It wasn’t uncommon for alpha females to sometimes want a little extra space from their male counterparts. Nudity in and of itself had never really been a problem to Light, he didn’t think of himself as a shy person, only cautious. He was similar enough to a female alpha as far as parts, they all started out as gammas after all. But if someone looked closely enough they could find out the truth.

He washed off quickly, beating L out of the showers so that he could dress in peace and wait outside for him. The trick with the lockers, with showing up extra early, he knew what L was playing at. He was not only trying to get closer to Light, he was trying to establish that he was the prime between the two. He would have thought that was Light’s MO for showing up when he did as well. 

Instead of the truth. 

Light had wanted to make sure he was there first to get dressed. Alone. To make sure that L had to get his own locker, hopefully far away from Light’s, so that he wouldn’t be breathing down Light’s neck, literally, when they needed to get ready to leave. L was perceptive. He was the best. He would be looking for anything that would be off about Light. For the case. Yes, for the case. But if he found something else he wouldn’t hesitate to latch onto it. He was already asking too many questions about Light’s scent, he was just lucky that there was an easy cover for that one. There were plenty of other questions Light wouldn’t have answers for. 

L didn’t take too long getting cleaned up and soon he was shuffling out into the late afternoon sun, freshly washed hair a springy cloud of puffy waves surrounding his head. The volume of it was quite impressive.

“What is funny?” L asked, looking around in an almost comical fashion. Light was rather sure he knew how ridiculous he looked. He was beginning to understand that some of L’s oddness was intentional. Not all, certainly. He was far too strange for it to be a complete ruse. 

“Nothing.” Light said with a affectionate chuckle he would stringently deny if anyone were ask about. “Let’s go get that coffee.” 

Light drove, as it turned out that L’s assistant had dropped him off. And yes, he was the older gentleman Light had seen before, that was most definitely not following Light around. L’s horrified gasp at the suggestion was very nearly believable. He didn’t press the subject, he wouldn’t get a straight answer if he did anyway.

The cafe was cute. A little shop with lace doilies and pretty pink flowers on the tables. Several teenage beta girls and unrepresented tweens were scattered throughout, sipping sweet coffee drinks topped with whipped cream or indulging in decadent cakes. Light turned to confront L at insisting they go to such an un-alpha place. 

But L was no longer next to him when he turned around. Instead he was already perched on the pink cushioned bench of the booth furthest from the front. Light sighed and followed him, sliding into the booth with a look of exaggerated annoyance. He just needed to get across how odd of a location this was. Unfortunately L didn’t see this, as he grabbed a menu from the table and buried his nose in it. 

A lovely beta woman with bright red hair and a very pink, very frilly dressed, came up to table. She smiled brightly at Light, her large doe eyes latching onto his face before traveling down his body hungrily. He might be small, but he was pretty, and that always seemed to be what mattered most. “How can I help you today?” She said to Light, clearly just to Light. 

L answered. “I’ll have a strawberry parfait and a caramel macchiato, and please bring extra sugar cubes for the table.” Both Light and the waitress stared at him for several seconds before she pulled out her pen and pad and wrote it down. 

“And you?” Her demeanor was a far sight less enthusiastic now. Not that he blamed her....he was just as disgusted by L’s choices in life. 

Light flipped open his menu, he wasn’t particularly hungry. But it would be rude to make L eat alone. Though he probably wouldn’t notice. He ordered a salad, the first one he saw on the list, and a black coffee. Black! He made that very clear!

“So, why this place?” Light asked when she had left and L had abandoned his menu after a longing look at all the desserts he hadn’t ordered. 

“It’s good, they have the best cake. They put in the parfait.” 

Really, Light should have known. He couldn’t help it, he smiled. Real, effervescent. He scanned the little cafe again, it was really was cute. Pleasant even. The scents were all soft and sweet. Only betas and unpresented children, well apart from L but his much stronger scent was beginning to grow on Light to the point that he hardly noticed it. He had always made a point of avoiding these sort of places. Before he and his mother found out about his omega status he had been too young to go out to coffee shops and gorge himself on sweets with friends. And then afterwards he had to stay away from places that other young alphas kept clear of. 

Much quicker than Light would have expected they were served, two cups of steaming coffee, one black, one a horrid cream color. The pretties, sweetest parfait that probably existed, Light’s salad, and an enormous bowl of sugar cubes. The snappy service made him fear the for the freshness of his salad, but it didn’t look overly wilted and the coffee was fine. A little one dimensional but passable. L dove into his dessert as Light poked at a cherry tomato with disinterest. 

“I had a good time with you today, Light.” L said around a candied strawberry. 

Light grimaced at his lack of manners, but ended up smiling despite himself. “I did too. Though I have a feeling I’ll be less happy about it in the morning.”

“We should keep playing,” L said absently as he began dropping sugar into his already too sweet drink. “That way you can build up your stamina again.”

Light knew, he knew, that L was just trying to keep him close because he thought eventually Light was going to spill something about the case. But the truth was he did have fun....was having fun. He wanted to say yes and mean it. before he could answer the door chimed behind him. He wouldn’t have paid any mind to it, the kids kept running in and out as it was. Until a scent hit him, and the world froze. 

Slowly he turned and watched as a couple came in. Both were women, though one was massive. Tall and muscular in the way that only alphas were, in a way that screamed power and demanded obedience. She towered over the much smaller woman at her side, a broad hand almost encasing one of her slender shoulders. In all honestly she was perhaps only a little bit smaller than Light, it was only that she stood next to other woman that her delicate features and slim frame were seen as fragile. He didn’t need to catch the glimpse of the dainty collar around her neck to know she was an omega, as her sweet lavender scent and her alphas strong spicy counterpart filled the small cafe. 

The alpha walked them towards the front, the kids and other patrons moving out of their way, heads bowing quickly to her as they scattered. She ordered for them, then stood back scanning the cafe. Her eyes caught on Light and L, as L was the only other scentable alpha in the room. Light didn’t bow his head, or turn around, as would be expected from a beta. Though he did break eye contact with her after a second, letting her know that, yes, he was an alpha, and no, he didn’t want to challenge her. 

L, on the other hand, met her gaze dead on, not even pausing in the consumption of his parfait as they stared each other down. 

The drinks arrived shortly and the alpha took the small pale green shake and handed it to her omega before swiping her own large coffee from the counter and ushering them out the door. She did not hurry, her arm still resting protectively on her omega who sipped silently on her brightly colored drink, but she did not loiter in the cafe either. And soon they were out of the door and out of sight. 

Light didn’t take his eyes from the door until L spoke again. “It’s good, to see an alpha who cares so much for their mate.”

Instead of rolling his eyes and biting his tongue, Light turned back to his salad, stabbed a tomato and popped it into his mouth. 

It wasn’t protection, it wasn’t love, that put that collar on that girl. It was the alpha at her side, and her need, no her want, to lay claim to another, to dominate another completely. Was Light supposed to call her a saint because she let her omega out of the house occasionally? A little trip around the block to get a sweet drink, and then back to the alpha’s den to waste away. 

“I’ve seen things.” 

L’s voice shattered Light’s angry musing like brittle glass. He had stopped in the consumption of his parfait and was decimating a candied strawberry against the side of the glass, he didn’t look up to meet Light’s eyes. 

“There are horrible people out there, Light, and I know I don’t need to tell you that, but...You handle the cases after the fact. Through pictures and with words....But I see them all the time. First hand.” His voice was always so flat, so controlled. Just another way of showing he was incapable of being ruffled. Light had never heard it like this before though. L’s control over his emotions had slipped. Light had never expected that when such a thing happened, sorrow would be what came through. 

But when he lifted his eyes to Light’s there was a glimmer of something much darker and resolute within them. “The world is filled with vile creatures parading around as everyday, normal people. And I want to make sure they pay for what they’ve done.”

“Me too.”

He hadn’t meant to agree with L, but the pull of those dark, angry eyes was too much. L nodded as he picked up the now macerated strawberry, uncaring as the sticky red juice dripped from the spoon to puddle on the table. 

“I could use your help, Light. To bring justice to this broken world.”

And really, who was Light to say no to that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dears!! 
> 
> After yet another illness, I think this time it was just a cold, I'm back again!! 
> 
> Thank you guys so so much for your support of this story! I'm glad everyone is excited about it, I am too!   
> I had a question about Light's gender and pronouns, and I'll answer it in the comments but I also wanted to put it up here in case other's are also having trouble.   
> Light is a boy, he's a male omega, but he is disguised as a female alpha. The only person beside Light who knows the truth is his mother, and well his doctor. So only Light really refers to himself as a boy, even his mother has to use the female pronouns around others.   
> I know it's probably a little confusing to have Light using he/him and L using She/her but for the time being that's whats going on. 
> 
> We'll be getting into the fun stuff like next chapter, the stuff I can't wait to get to!!! They're starting to trust each other, and bless L, he knows there's something special about Light. He just can't figure out what it is. (that's more because he just can't fathom that an omega could ever pass as an alpha, than him not knowing how to fit the clues together)
> 
> I was a little surprised when I finished the chapter today. Sometimes the end of a scene just jumps out at you! But I'm so glad I can get it out!   
> Thank you guys so much for your kudos and comments!! It means a lot!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

Things settled into an easy, dare he even say comfortable, routine. After their time at the cafe L seemed to think that he and Light had come to some agreement on things. He no longer flocked to Light’s shoulder the second he entered the NPA, and he didn’t show up to the Law Firm again unannounced. 

He also seemed to think that Light would eventually share what he called ‘prudent information’ with him once Light found any.

He would not. 

That didn’t mean he wanted to revert back to their earlier animosity. When he wasn’t trying to rile Light up, L was, well, he was fun. Instead of hiding in wait to spring out at Light as he passed by, L approached him as a normal person would. Meeting him at the coffee machine, or greeting him in the hall after his talks with Hatori. 

They began having lunch together a few times a week, and though luckily he hadn’t invited himself to anymore Yagami family dinners, he also hadn’t forgotten his way to Light’s apartment. 

After the first time he’d come knocking at Light’s door Light had taken a good look around his apartment to make sure nothing was out of order for his cover. That was after he drank his weight in wine, wallowed in his own self pity, and sobered up, of course.

His suppressants were disguised as vitamins. An expensive brand marketed just for alphas, and if anyone read the label they would see that it held a suppressant. And it did, it was just not the one listed. His alpha perfume was probably the most damning thing he owned, barring his bugout bag stashed in the closet. Which he had moved to his safe just in case. There was no reason that an alpha would need, or want, a perfume with alpha pheromones. But he couldn’t bring himself to tip it down the drain and throw out the bottle. 

And though it was unlikely that he would open the safe just to spritz some on before running out of the house, he had placed in the safe as well, right next to the bag. 

Just in case. 

Just in case. 

As far as he could tell there was nothing else in the apartment that could break his cover. It was his own prerogative if he wanted to bathe in sweet smelling soap. Much like his choice in wardrobe. Female alphas, while still expected to be big, louder than life and dominating everyone in sight, were able to do so in a way that was softer, if they so chose. 

By the second time that L had showed up on his door step on a rainy Wednesday evening two weeks after their tennis match, Light was certain there was nothing in his apartment that would draw unwanted attention. 

Light rarely had company over. Once or twice he’d allowed Teru over while working on a particularly trying case. They would pour over the material. Files, papers, photos, and wine glasses and coffee cups all strewn across his dining table. As for his family. His father had been to his apartment exactly once, when he had first moved in. Sayu dropped by whenever she felt like it, he was lucky if he got a warning text before hand. And his mother. Well, Sachiko came by as often as she could. Always calling first. This was the only pace that they could really speak openly. Though often they just had tea and enjoyed each other’s company. 

Funny enough, that was what he and L ended up doing more often than not as well. 

When Light had first let him actually enter his flat, L had taken his time to roam around the room with wide, hungry eyes. He skirted around the living room and kitchen, curious like a large cat. And other than poking at Light’s small potted violets on the kitchen sill, presumably to see if it was real. And yes, it was, thank you very much! Light knew how to care for a plant. L hadn't disturbed or questioned anything in his apartment. 

Soon after they were ensconced in Light’s two, plush, wing back chairs, steaming cups of coffee in hand as they chatted about nothing at all. 

It turned out that L was witty, in his own way. Sarcastic to the bone, but not obstinate. He was just set in his ways. He had the same ideals most alphas did. The undying need to protect above all else. It wasn’t a bad thing on its own. But the way alphas were want to go about it was where Light found the flaws. 

So subtly, Light began talking about the rights of others to choose what they wanted. To choose how much freedom and protection they wanted from others. He began with the betas. With how they had fought hundreds of years ago for the right to stand among the alphas and take up a place beside them. From there he could slowly start to bring up how, once you really got down to it, omegas weren’t much different from betas, who weren’t much different from alphas. 

It would take time. He couldn’t just drop omega liberation plans on L’s lap unprompted, and he especially couldn’t do so whenever they were talking about the case. Which was often enough, even if he didn’t divulge all of Hatori’s secrets. So he had to play it cool, start slow. He drew L’s attention to certain works of art he had collected, painted or sculpted by betas who had struggled to make a name for themselves. Fighting to be recognized in an alpha’s world, only to not stand next to them, but surpass them in the art. Unsurprisingly, L didn’t seem to care. 

Light was undeterred. He had amassed a collection of movies, books, playbooks, and all sorts of innovations created by betas. One way or another, he was going to teach L their worth. Luckily he had no shortage of opportunities to do try.

One would think that Light Yagami, ever the pristine scheduler, would hate L’s impromptu drop ins. And if it had been anyone else, he would have. But L was good company, and soon Light found himself hoping for a knock at a strange or untimely hour. At least he showed up during the evenings, or weekend afternoons, after that one time he knocked on the door at 4 am one Saturday and was confronted with a very grumpy Light. He hadn’t made that mistake again. 

So when an upbeat, purposeful knock resounded through his silent apartment one cool Thursday evening, he wasn’t just unsurprised, he answered the door with a smile on his face. 

Which slid off his face when he caught sight of L’s stormy eyes and drooped shoulders. “What’s with you?” He stepped aside to let L through. 

L trudged through Light’s apartment like a man possessed. He shuffled through the entryway to the living room without so much as looking up, until he reached one of Light’s cushy sofas where he unceremoniously face planted in the cushions. The words he spoke once he’d landed were completely muffled therein. 

Light sighed, walking over to the sofa he leaned over the back and poked L in the back of the head. “I didn’t catch that. Sit up and try again.” As obviously distraught as L was, Light couldn’t help but smirk. For all his ability to intimidate others with his eerie calm and eyes that seemed to peer into ones very soul, the truth was that L was very much controlled by emotion. It just took knowing him better to be able to see it. 

With a huff L managed to roll over, his large grey eyes unblinking at he stared through Light to the ceiling and beyond. “I really thought this case was going to be the connection I needed.” He finally said, voice more hollow than usual. 

Light stepped away from L and his mystery and walked to his kitchen. In all honesty he had been expecting L to come to him with this particular woe. Hatori’s case was drawing to a close, and like Light had assumed it had already lost much of its public appeal. They hadn’t found anything when looking into Hatori that would be too damning. As far as everyone else was concerned he was only guilty of prescribing birth control without an alpha’s consent. 

The trial was basically over, L’s team had kept it going for as long as they could without evidence of further wrong doing and corruption. Of which they had none. And after a medical check that showed the omegas under his care were in good health and the birth control had no ill effects on their fertility, pretty much everyone lost interest. They were now poised to meet on Monday for the closing statements and sentencing. Hatori was looking at ten years, if Light had his guess. He’d probably be out in five for good behavior and then he’d make his way to one of his colleagues in Ireland. He’d be able to pick up his research there. Under a different name. 

His research wouldn’t go to waste. He could continue to make positive changes in people’s lives. This would all be just a minor set back for him.

He and Light had already counted the case won. Light had even celebrated by treating himself to a nice dinner at his favorite French restaurant earlier that week. His buoyant mood had yet to dissipate. 

And then there was L.

Light made quick work of the cork of a sweet red. L would probably prefer it if Light made him a overly sweet mixed drink, but time was of the essence here, so. He poured two, overly full, glasses and marched back to the living room. Taking the bottle with him. 

“Here.” He said, holding one of the glasses out for L and waiting for him to rise and take it. He placed the bottle on the glass coffee table and reclined on the chair closest to L’s gargoylian perch on the couch. 

“Now, tell me about this connection, or whatever it is that has you so upset.”

“I’m not upset.” L said dully, he just held his wine in hand, staring at it for several moments before taking a curious sip through pursed lips. Then another. Then another, much longer this time. “I’m....depressed? Yes that’s it.”

“Because....There’s no connection?” Light sipped his own wine, thoughtful and calm. L wasn’t depressed. He’d lost his fragile grip on reality. Really, what the hell was he talking about?

“To Kairo, to California, to Moscow, to, to all the other cases that started off like this and lead to something more. It happens too often to be isolated incidences, Light. There’s some connection and I keep missing it.” He looked up at Light with cheerless eyes. “I was so sure I’d find it here.”

Light tilted his head, as though considering what L had said. He was very much aware, probably more so than L himself, that there was an underground omega liberation going on throughout the world. Doctors mostly, though there were those who did things from doctoring up fake IDs, Passports, and Birth Certificates, to those who helped omegas relocate to areas where they wouldn’t be known. Set them up with jobs and money so that they could start over as betas or alphas elsewhere. He didn’t know how far it went, nor did he want to. His own doctor had only given him one name and contact if things went south. 

He hoped to never have to use it. 

“It was just a case of a doctor giving out birth control. Which is his job, mind you. The omega had wanted it. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if omegas were allowed to dictate their own lives.” Light bit down on that particular train of thought, trying to reel in his anger with a giant gulp of wine. Now wasn’t the time to talk to L about these sorts of things. He needed a clearheaded L to come to the conclusion that omegas should be able to control their own lives. He needed to help lead L to these thoughts, not force them on him in a moment of angry frustration. 

He topped off both their glasses. 

“But it isn’t just birth control we’re talking about here, Light.” L took a long sip of his wine, lolling his head to rest on the back of the couch. “We’re talking mutilations, experimentation, gland removals. All sorts of horrible things that there’s no going back from.”

Light gaped at him, aghast. “What....what sort of mutilations.” 

L drained his glass before answering. He held the empty glass out for Light to fill as he spoke. “There was a doctor in Kairo, she performed surgeries on male omegas, penile removal, trying to help them pass as beta women.” He shuddered at the memory. 

Light didn’t realize he was just sitting there, staring at nothing with his mouth agape until L took the bottle of wine from his hands to pour himself some more. “We’re going to need more of this.” He said, waving the empty bottle under Light’s nose. 

In a daze Light finished off his own glass before rising to get another bottle. 

They were going to need much much more. 

Three hours, and who knew how many bottles of wine later...there were at least a few that had rolled under the sofa by now, Light realized that L really needed to just take a break from his job for a while. 

And this was him talking! Light never took vacations! But L, L really needed it. Having to be around those sorts of people. Helping omegas suppress heats and working with them to fight off instincts that didn’t really have a place in modern society was one thing. But to actually mutilate them! To alter them to a point of no return. To damage someone so completely just so they could live a life with a little more freedom was beyond heinous! 

Though, the reasons that Light though so were not L's reason. Light was horrified, furious really, that they lived in a world where an omega felt such steps were even needed. If omegas could walk out of their homes and not fear being attacked, abducted, raped, and claimed by any alpha passing by, then altering one's physical form wouldn't be necessary. L was disgusted that someone would hurt an omega in such a way. 

Light was horrified that an omega saw mutilation as their only hope, and angry at the doctors who chose those paths instead of the safer route like his doctor took.

Light rolled his head to the side to better face L. Some how they had ended up on the floor in the area between his kitchen and living room....He had a vague memory of L trying to perch on the back of the couch only to topple over....but that didn’t explain why he had joined him....Either way they were both stretched out, gazing listlessly at his ceiling. 

“You know. You know I would tell you if Hatori was like that.” Light waved his hand in the air as he searched for the right word that would get his point across to L. “If he was evil, I mean.”

L’s head flopped over to look at him, dark grey eyes bright and hopeful. “Would you?”

Light nodded. “I wouldn’t have worked with him if I had thought he was like that.” And it was probably the truth. He would have stayed on long enough to help his clients, to move them to better doctors. But if Hatori had told them they had to have their glands and genitals removed he would have dropped him like so much garbage quicker than the man could blink. He liked to think so anyway. That this feeling had nothing to do with L's pale complexion and his tired, sad eyes. 

“Yes you would have.” L sighed, turning back to the ceiling. “The case was given to your firm by the state, you would have worked on it because your boss would have made you. And you would still have won even if he were evil, because you are a good lawyer.”

Light smiled, his foggy mind catching onto the praise. He shook his head though after a time. “I wouldn’t have. I wanted Hatori’s case but I wasn’t alone. If I thought he was guilty of something truly awful I would have given it to Teru. He wanted this almost as much as I did.”

“Really?” L rolled over onto his side so that he was facing Light.

Light nodded. “Really.”

“You’re good people, Light Yagami. And don’t let the others tell you different.” L’s words were slurred, soft and drowsy.

“You too, L.” Light smiled as L’s eyes fell closed and didn’t open again. His breathing evened out and all the tension drained from his face and limbs. “You too.”

Light rose on shaky legs, grasping the back of the couch for support. Taking a soft blanket from the back of the chair he draped it over L’s body, hesitated, then came back to him with a pillow. Once he deemed L comfortable enough, because he sure as hell wasn’t going to try moving the giant lump, he headed to his room. Fell on the bed and went right to sleep. 

The good thing about keeping meticulous schedules and always being prepared, was that even on nights when Light let loose, he was always prepared for the morning. His foresight was truly a blessing. 

Until his alarm went off and then it was just a headache. 

He had work. They were so close to the end of the trial he had to get up. He had to! 

That didn’t mean he had to roll out of bed with any measure of grace. He groaned, and cursed, and had to take several deep breathes before he found his feet on the floor and his head swaying somewhere near the ceiling....He needed a drink. Juice or water. Coffee would be best but there was no way he was going to be able to stand through making his own just yet. 

The unfortunate thing about having an analytical mind was that Light didn’t really have a black out point. He’d never been able to imbibe enough to reach a state where he had no memory of the drinking itself. Not for lack of trying either. He could remember every aspect of last night. L’s depression. The wine. L’s horrifying stories of omega abuse and exploitation. More wine. His promise to L that Hatori wasn’t that way at all.

L believing him. 

And, a little more wine. 

Somehow he made his way to the door and opened it, knowing full well the sight that awaited him.

Or...so he thought. 

Oh there were still wine bottles on the floor, after the third one Light had stopped worrying too much about making sure they made their way into the recycling. He could pick up in the morning, he recalled himself saying as he’d placed an empty bottle on the floor by his chair. It was still there, tipped over on its side, dried wine now a thick violet splotch soaking into his cream colored carpet. 

There was a general disarray that would normally never be allowed in his flat, but he could remember, if a bit hazy, at allowing it. Pillows moved to the floor, one of his Kijima Haruki figurines placed on the glass coffee table. And he remembered sitting on the pillows, talking at length about the craftsmanship of the beta sculptor. 

He didn’t remember L being anymore interested that time that he had been the first time Light had shown him his Haruki figures....but they were Light’s favorites. He liked showing them off. 

Last, but definitely not least, there was L himself. Sprawled, just as Light had left him, in the middle of the floor behind the couch. Though when Light had left him he distinctly remembered only throwing a single blanket over him and tucking just one pillow under his heavy head. 

Now though, L lay in the middle of a very sloppily made....well....nest was the only thing he could think to call it. There were pillows around him, he was face down on one, unruly hair sticking up in all directions. a few extra blankets had entered the fray and were rolled or wadded up around him. 

Light tilted his head curiously. Had L raided his linen closet in the night? It seemed to be the only likely reason for half of its contents now being laid on Light’s floor, but....Alphas didn’t nest. Or at the very least they didn’t make them themselves. They didn’t have that instinct. 

Light padded over to L....in his nest! Nudging one of L’s legs with his bare foot, he said. “Hey. Hey! Get up!” L Groaned, moving to tuck his legs underneath his body. “We both have work, you have to get up.”

“I’m L, I don’t have to do anything!” 

Light snorted, picking up one of the few pillows that hadn’t made their way to L’s nest, he threw it at L’s head. “I’m taking a shower, you have until I’m dressed to be up.” Light ignored his moans of protest to go chug a glass of juice. On his way back he passed L again, still wrapped up on the floor. “If you’re a good little alpha we’ll stop by Mochi on the way in and I’ll get you some cake.” The noise that escaped through the blankets was much happier that time. 

“But you have to get up!” Light stated loudly before retreating to his room, closing the door behind him. 

Shower, get dressed, fix his hair and makeup, take his pills, and spritz on some fresh scented perfume, and done! Even with a hangover that make him see smells and feel every touch as if it were a hot stinging needle on his skin, Light never left his house looking less than properly put together. 

All in all it had only taken him about forty five minutes to get it together, a little more than normal, still doing good all things considered. He expected L to still be in the pile of blankets when he come out. Fully expected, actually, to have to literally drag the man by the ankles out of his apartment and haul him in the car. So walking in to him standing before the tv, remote held in hand and mouth agape, had been something of a surprise. 

That was nothing, though, to what was on the screen. 

Light came up beside him, quip on the tip of his tongue about L being a zombie for the television, the words died before he even took break to utter them. 

It was the news. Not the overly cheerful morning reporters that made Light want to shove a ballpoint through his temporal lobe. It was a street view, taken hours before the sun had risen. It appeared to be somewhere public. The mall maybe. No...the neon sign out front came into view. A night club then. 

Reporter vans and police trucks were clogging the street, though there were still plenty of people on foot. The picture was grainy, shaky, it was almost impossible to see what was going on until someone moved and a medic team rolling someone out on the gurney came into view. The video zoomed and focused on the blond haired woman as she was loaded into the ambulance. 

The reporters usually chipper voice, now tired and horrified, was saying the exact thing as the words that trailed across the bottom of the screen. Which was good...it took both for what Light was seeing to fully set it. 

“The movie star and model, Misa Amane, known by fans as Misa Misa, collapsed during a party at Ringo, a Tokyo nightclub last night after an altercation involving two alphas. Witnesses say that the alphas in question were trying to convince the beta, miss Amane to leave with them. Several times Amane refused, until one of the alphas grabbed her. Those closest to the scene said that Amane tried to yell at the alphas to leave, and a short physical struggle ensued, resulting in Amane’s collapse.”

“Fearing injury, she was rushed via ambulance to the emergency room. Once she was examined, though, it became clear that something....else was at fault.” The reporters voice wavered, unsure. But the words at the bottom of the screen had no such problem. They continued, unrelentingly, across the screen. 

Misa Amane was taken to the hospital...she hadn’t passed out from an injury from the fight, or exhaustion, or an over abundance of drink. She had gotten into a fight with alphas. She had felt an alpha command head on, probably for the first time in her life. 

Light was no longer standing. He didn’t even remember moving, folding in on himself until he was seated on the couch. Hand over his mouth as though, subconsciously, trying to keep his worry....his fear...silently at bay. 

This was bad. This was very, very bad. 

L turned to him. Gone was the miasma of depression he had exuded last night. He smiled bright. Brighter than Light had ever seen before. Gleeful, was the word. L was gleeful as he shouted in the near silent room.

“Misa Amane is an omega!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome back dears! 
> 
> I don't know how long this chapter is, but it feels shorter. But I love this one! I've been waiting to write it for a while now!! Now things are really going to start getting fun for ol' Light!! He's going to need a lot of coffee to handle L's excitement. 
> 
> I think I only have one side note for this, and that's that Light was right, alphas don't have the instinct to make nests. Light might be able to remember a night of drinking, but he doesn't remember getting up in the night to build a little nest around his friend to help him calm down and feel better. Which is what omegas do when they sense their friends are sad. It's a good thing those suppressants would take days to wear off or all that 'scenting' he did would have been notice.   
> I tell you this because neither of them will ever remember that it happened. Light will think L demolished all his clean linens, and L will think that Light went over board in trying to make sure he comfortable. He'll blame it on Light being drunk.   
> But I just really wanted you guys to know the truth. Light doesn't really know all of what omegas are drawn to do, because in a way he's never actually been one. 
> 
> Thank you guys so so so so much your support of this story! I love hearing from you guys, you always make me feel like I'm doing something right! I really hope you all enjoy this chapter!! 
> 
> Next chapter is gonna be fun!!   
> Stay tuned for a little Misa Misa Time!


	7. chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

“You have to go meet with her!”

“No.”

“She’ll be put up at one of the Temples in town! It’s perfect!”

“I said no, L.”

“You’re a handsome, single young alpha, they’ll be tripping over themselves to set you up with someone, and Amane is quite a bit older than most unmated omegas. Celebrity or not, she’ll be harder to find a match for.” L said, waving his spoon around more than a conductor at a symphony as he spoke. “And if they’re reluctant I can pull some strings to get you in.”

Light sighed, brought his cup up to his lips, and for the second time since they had been seated, he couldn’t even bring himself to take a sip. L’s buoyant mood had yet to wane, if anything he had only gotten more excited as the minutes ticked by. Even his triple layer raspberry cheese cake paled in comparison to the news they’d gotten that morning. 

And Light just wanted it to all be a bad dream. 

Any moment now he would wake up, his hangover would drive him to seek coffee and he and L would have a sullen, painful breakfast before heading to the respective jobs. As it was meant to be. 

If only he’d just wake up!

“I’m not going to go in, pretend to be interested in Misa Amane as a mate and gain an interview with her, just to ask her these invasive questions you have.” Light said, again, finally managing to swallow a sip of coffee without his stomach rolling in protest. 

“She’ll have plenty of suitors, she won’t even remember you after today. And think of all the good we could do once we find her doctor. How many other omegas are currently putting themselves at this risk? It’s dangerous!” L’s voice had gain in both volume and speed as he spoke, causing Light to wince and glance around embarrassed. 

Light bit his tongue on what he wanted to say. That it was only dangerous because a few alphas hadn’t taken no for an answer. This was all their fault. Amane was 24....or 26, maybe, he didn’t know for sure, but she had been doing this whole dynamic cover up thing longer than her had. At least 16 years, give or take a few, and with no danger to her person, no major illness or even slip up. Not until the incident that had been completely out of her control. Now she was doomed. Her life would never be her own again. 

There were many reasons that Light wouldn’t....couldn’t seek her as a mate. Potential mates were put through tests for the temple’s records, which included a blood test. A single drop of his blood in their system and he would be as doomed as she. 

But that, of course, wasn’t the only reason. Light sighed, sitting his cup back down to the table. He’d ordered a spinach and egg white omelet. It was getting far less appealing by the second. 

“I can’t go in and manipulate an omega’s feeling like that, even if she ended up not liking me. It goes against my nature.” 

L’s spoon hit his plate with a sharp clang. “I’m not asking you to promise to mate her and give her children, most alphas look at multiple omegas before making their choice. She won’t expect anything after just one visit.”

“You do it then!” Light snapped, he took several deep breaths before he could calm down a little. He had to get a hold of himself! This was not a time to fall apart. It was just....too much. It was too hard dealing with L when he was like this, when Light was so....

Frightened. 

“Sorry.” He said, running a hand through his hair and instantly regretting it when it got snagged and became a mess. He set to untangling, ignoring L’s perplexed look from across the table. 

“It would be....unwise, for me to be in their records. Even one of my personas. It could become a danger to me later.” 

“Fine, how about this.” Light leaned across the table, itching to smooth his hair back again but controlling himself. Damn L for having a point. Damn him for making this Light’s problem too. “Under very strict and dire circumstances omegas are questioned in crimes. I think this definitely qualifies as one of those times. She’s the only one who can point us to her doctor and tell us how she was managing to pass as a beta this whole time.” Though Light had a pretty good idea as to the how. 

He really hoped he didn’t already know the who. 

“I can get in as her....lawyer. And set it up that the detective in charge of the case can be there with me.” Light took another deep breath. He really, really didn’t want to do this. “So long as one of the betas from the temple is in the room with us, and we make it very clear we are not there as potential mates, we should be able to go in and ask our questions while bypassing the more strict security measures.” Like giving blood. 

L hummed, running a thoughtful finger over his lips for a second before perking up and taking up his spoon once more. “I still think we could get more information from her if you try and seduce her a little, but it’s better than nothing.”

Light sighed, trying and failing to release some of the tension that had taken up residence at the back of his neck and down his shoulders. L started eating his cake in earnest now, eyes unfocused in thought. When he was finished he would spring into action, a plan fully formed and by some amazing means they would probably have a meeting with Amane by the end of the morning. 

Light took up his fork and poked listlessly at his rapidly cooling omelet. As unappealing as it looked he cut off a piece and chewed it with great effort.

He had a feeling he would need his strength. 

 

Tokyo’s Omega Temple was a on the outskirt of town. Like most Omega Temples it was composed of a low sprawling building behind a tall, imposing gate. All the windows that could be seen from the road were always blocked by something. Heavy white curtains or screens of tightly wrought iron. Though it was a well known fact that even if one could see in from the street, there would no chance of spotting an omega. 

They were kept inside. Tucked away in what was called ‘The Nest’. Surrounded on all sides by the halls that housed the staff, the kitchens, and the administration offices. There wasn’t a wall inside The Nest that faced the outside word. There were so many levels of security between The Nest and gate that no one would ever make it within a hundred paces of an omega. There was no getting in. 

There was no getting out. 

There was plenty that wasn’t known about the Temples. Or well....plenty that could be known about the Temples, but one would actually have to be in them, either working or residing within, to learn such secrets. 

Light never wanted to find out. 

He had never wanted to even get within viewing distance of the place, taking pains in his life to always go around them. Irrational, though his fear was, he worried that if he ever got too close someone would come out and pull him in. That the betas there would somehow be able to look past what had fooled so many for so long. It wouldn’t happen. It was silly to get worked up over it. But it was a theory, a fear, he didn’t want push. 

He didn’t want to be there now. Stuck in a small white room in a hard backed chair. Trying to pretend that the scent of the light, calming pheromones they had begun pumping into the room when they had arrived didn’t bother him. Beside him L gave no notice that there was anything different about the air at all. He was still buzzing with excitement that Light fancied he could feel it radiating off him in waves. 

Light on the other hand had to fight for focus. He wanted to curl up on the table top and take a nap. His already flayed nerves were being bombarded by the artificial calm trying to cloud his mind. The only thing that kept him centered, or well, distracted enough to ignore this particularly debilitating impulse, was L’s horrific excuse for a disguise. Not wanting to be easily recognizable on the Temple’s camera’s, he’d made Light pull over at a wig shop that morning. He was now sporting a hideously bright red bob cut wig...It did not suite him. 

Light yawned deeply, just managing to keep up right as he turned back to the task of waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. If he had known this was a possibility before hand he could have prepared himself before they had entered. He should have guessed they would use pheromones keep the omegas calm and docile. It was all he could do to breathe past it. To push down the instinct to give into the pheromones and become drunk on them. Even as his skin itched and burned at his refusal to give in. 

It had been thirty agonizing minutes since they had been led to this room to await Miss Amane and her beta caregiver. Chances were she would be uncooperative or asked to not say too much. If he felt that was the case he could call an end to it quickly and get the hell out of there and never look back. 

“Nice place, don’t you think?” L said out of no where. It was the first thing he’d said since they had sat down at the spotless metal table. 

“I guess.”

“It’s clean, and there’s plenty of security. I was quite impressed with the finger print scanners.”

Yeah sure. The scanners. What a great security measure. They now had a file on him, as an alpha of course. But his finger prints were on their computers now along with a photo. He didn’t like that at all. 

“The staff was very professional and thorough. It seems like a good temple.” 

Light sighed, cursing L for wanting to choose now to chitchat about this damned place. He cast around for something to add that might shut him up for a while. “It’s very....sterile.” 

L took a curious look around before stating matter of factly, “I’m sure the Nesting area is far more comfortable. They hardly make the omegas sleep on metal tables with not even a blanket.” 

Light bit the inside of his cheek to keep quiet. People needed far more than a blanket to be comfortable. They needed more than a pleasant, mind numbing scent to be at ease. It didn’t matter if all the omegas were sleeping on feather beds with silk sheets, eating like kings and wanting for nothing. This wasn’t a caring home. This wasn’t a life. 

Luckily the door opened before L could say something else, like how having someone else in control of your healthcare was just a sign of being loved or having children was the only thing omegas needed to feel happy and fulfilled in life. 

Something that Light would have to punch him in the face for saying. 

A tall beta woman with broad shoulders and stern eyes walked in, followed shortly by the small form of Misa Amane. Gone was her extravagant makeup that she always wore in the pictures Light had seen of her. Her long blond hair was down, hanging limp over her shoulders. He had been forced to watch a few of her music videos, courtesy of Sayu’s obsession. She had always seemed to exude life and energy. He had always found it so annoying. Her voice grating, her mannerisms exaggerated to the point of idiocy. He had honestly disliked everything he’d seen about her. 

What he wouldn’t give to see her being her obnoxious self once more. 

She had been there less than a day, yet already she looked small and frail. Cowed by the betas, the pheromones, and who knew what else. 

L and Light rose as they entered, accepting the small bow from the beta as she led Amane forward. 

“Misa, these are Alphas Yagami and Ryuzaki. They are detectives and want to have a word with you.” Her voice was kind as she spoke to Amane, smoothing back her hair as she guided Amane to a chair. 

Light winced. She hadn’t gotten that completely right, but it didn’t matter. She didn’t need to know too much about the case, they just had some questions and then they’d leave. They sat back down after Amane had been seated. After a quick glance at both them she kept her head down, only sending Light curious glances every now and then. 

Light did his best to ignore her and her worried brown eyes. He cleared his throat, tapping his pen on his open notebook as he tried to organize his thoughts. They hadn’t been allowed a tape recorder in the room. An idiotic stipulation if you asked him. What harm could come from having an omega’s voice on the recording? It wasn’t as though there weren’t hundreds of recordings of Miss Amane as it was. Even if they tried to force a world wide sweep of her content there was no way they could ever hope to erase her completely. 

Did they fear what she might say about the temple? Worry that any ill words directed at the ‘care’ of omegas could get out to the public. The thought of playing such a recording in front of a jury and judges sent a little thrill through him. What he wouldn’t give to work that case! 

He gave another little cough, dispelling the fancy for his much more bleak reality. “Miss Amane, Detective Ryuzaki and I only have a few questions for you, and then you can go back to your day.” When he looked up hollow brown eyes were peering at him from a pale, listless face. “I’m sure you’re exhausted from the night’s events.”

L leaned forward, and it wouldn’t have surprised Light to see drool dripping from his parted lips as he eyed Amane. Whether because he was in awe of being within the glow of her celebrity, or because she might hold the answers to long sought after questions, was unclear. Light quickly pushed ahead. Determined to be the one to speak with Amane so as keep the conversation going in a swift and even pace. 

“First, we would like you to tell us the name of you physician, along with any unorthodox treatments you might have been receiving.” 

She quickly ducked her head, followed almost instantly by a burst of cloying, distress. Like long dead flowers. Sweet honeyed fruits left to rot. 

The beta at the door shifted, and Light feared, hoped even, that they would be asked to leave for distressing her precious charge. Unfortunately, the beta crossed her arms, sending Amane a stern glare. “It’s an important question, dear one. Answer her.” The last was spoken with a command. Though much weaker than an alpha’s, Amane still tensed as it took hold. 

She answered in a voice as empty as her eyes. 

“My doctor’s name is Ueda Noriko....” Amane flicked her hesitant eyes to Light and L before dropping them back to the table. “She gave me suppressants to help me pass as a beta.”

Light released a slow breath through his nose. Careful. Always so careful. To not show fear and discomfort. Ueda Noriko. A name he had never heard before. Not his doctor. Not his time to worry. He wrote the name down in his notebook. “Do you know what was in the suppressants? Their name, where they might have come from?” 

Amane shook her head. L leaned towards him and said softly. “No matter. We’ll find out once we search the doctor’s offices.” Already he had his phone in his hand, sending off a series of texts to Watari and who knew who else to begin the search. 

“How long have you been seeing this doctor?”

“Eight years.” 

“Were you seeing a doctor before this that also gave you illegal drugs?”

On and on he asked the questions that he and L had come up with ahead of time. None of the answers were any kind of surprise for him. Other than being a celebrity, and trying to pass as a beta, which sounded so much easier than pretending to be an alpha and Light was maybe a little jealous, they had lived a very similar life. 

She found out she was an omega not too long after the death of her parents. Luckily for her she was alone when it happened, and do to some quick thinking that would probably come as a shock to most. She had been able to hide the fact that she had presented until her heat passed. 

It was her talent agent who had set her up with her first doctor, a beta male by the name of Chiro Myazaki, and doctor Myazaki had set her up with Ueda once he retired. The rest was just luck and passable acting skills. 

And of course the fact that the population at large thought omegas too delicate to make it on their own, and thus never would suspect her.

In short, her life had been just like Light’s.

By the time he had exhausted his list he was more than ready to leave. His hand writing had become more and more shaky as he fought the on slot of pheromones mixing in the room. Amane’s distress, the beta’s forcefully calming and somewhat impatient scent, L’s elated and very strong alpha scent. And over it all, that blanket of artificial calming pheromones that pumped through the air vents. 

It was too much. 

It was making him sick. 

He just wanted out!

“That’s all the questions we have.” Light directed the comment more to the beta than Amane. It would probably be seen as improper if he were to address her for anything other than official questions. The beta nodded and moved to help Amane from her seat. 

“Will you be coming back?” Amane’s voice was small. It carried clearly through the silent room. 

Light was busy tucking his book and pen back into his bag, he hadn’t even registered Amane’s words until L shoved an elbow into his side. Drawing his attention to Amane and her now steady and hopeful gaze. 

“Umm, no....we have all the answers we need from you.” 

Amane’s eyes went back to the floor, her face fell. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why she should want to be brought in for more questions. 

L snickered loudly at his side once the door had closed behind the beta, leaving them alone once more. 

“What?”

L turned to him, grinning brightly. “Told you. Didn’t I?”

Light sighed, he stood, threw his bag over shoulder and headed for the door without further comment. 

Yes he had noticed her looks. The fluctuations of her scent when their eyes would meet. But he did not want a mate. Couldn’t mate with Amane even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t

He couldn’t mate with anyone. 

Couldn’t trust anyone. 

He was out of the gates in what must have been record time. Not even trying to keep up his cheery disposition with the betas at the front desk. He was halfway to the car park before large hands gripped his shoulders in a vice, turning him to face a rather concerned L. Hunks of his cheap red wig now sticking up, much like his normal hair would. 

“What?” Light asked shortly, ripping himself from L’s hold. 

“What? What do you mean, what? You stormed out of there like an alpha enraged and you ask me what!” He said, gruff and confused. 

Light pulled a hand through his hair. He still felt shaky and off balanced. Slowly, the world around him was settling as his nerves evened out. He was still too close to the Temple for comfort. But had managed to get out. He was still free! 

“I’m just...tired.” He said lamely, shaking his head. “We had a long night, it’s been a hell of a morning, and it’s barely past noon. I have a case to finish up, and another one to start. I just want to get back to the office.” There, none of that was a lie. It should be to L’s satisfaction. 

When L simply stood there, blinking at him, Light gave up on a reply and started making his way to the car once more. He wrenched the door open but didn’t go in, hands gripping the door he looked up to L, he had followed, just like Light knew he would. 

“Do you need a ride to the NPA?” He asked softly. “Or maybe your hotel?”

L shook his head. “No, I already contacted Watari, we have several errands to run now....I don’t want to keep you.”

“Yeah, okay.” Light put on a smile, force of habit, and left L on the sidewalk. His large eyes following Light’s car until he lost sight. 

Everything was fine. In fact, it couldn’t have gone better. He had asked his questions, gotten the information needed. The doctor in questions wasn’t his own. And most importantly, he had left the Temple completely unnoticed. But the relief he felt at that last part wasn’t nearly potent enough. Several times on his way to the office he had to check himself. Ease his death white grip on the steering wheel. Relax his jaw and shoulders. 

Breathe deep. 

He was fine. 

Everything was going to be fine. 

 

~~~

 

They found doctor Ueda in the process of destroying her office. 

Files were pulled out of their folders, a cabinet was knocked over, and a small fire was going in the metal waste basket on her desk. She hadn’t come willingly. They had needed two betas to drag her away from her computer, which she had kicked over in a last ditch effort to keep L and his crew from taking her files. 

It was nothing he couldn’t work around. He just needed the hard drive and then all her secrets would be his. 

Once the room was cleared of personnel, L took several pictures of the destruction. The shredded papers, the smoldering trashcan. The crushed computer. He sent a back up to himself and Watari through email, tagging Light onto it at the last minute. She’d probably get a kick out of doctor Ueda’s fruitless attempts at hiding her tracks. 

So much less dignified than Hatori who had come quietly. 

Then again, by all accounts, she had done a far worse thing than he. 

Hopefully this would help pull Light out of her odd funk from that morning. It wasn’t the first time they had spent all night drinking. She usually handled her headaches better than this. Maybe seeing how easily this new case would be won would soothe her some. 

Surely if Ueda went through all this trouble it meant she had plenty to hide. And that she hand't hidden it well, but the looks of things. He was sure it wouldn’t take long to crack her codes.

L grinned widely as he picked up the cracked CPU. He had a feeling, one that never let him down. That this was it! This was his lead! The key that would unlock years of disappointment and failure. To finding the labyrinth of rats he'd been searching for years.

Just a few hours, and he’d have all he need to break down all their walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! Welcome back! 
> 
> I had a pretty busy month, my dad visiting for a week and a lot of traveling, but I finally was able finish this up and edit it! I was unsure where it would end, and was almost afraid it would go on longer, but I found a good spot. So I apologize if it seems short. I thought Misa's part would be longer, but Light was super uninterested in her...and with good reason. He had other things to worry about. 
> 
> I hope the last part isn't too badly edited. I literally just finished it. One of those times when I didn't know it would going to stop there but I found the perfect place, so here we are. I've read over it but didn't want to wait longer to post, since it's done and y'all have waited long enough. 
> 
> Just so you know, L will have his finger print swapped with a fake sometime after they leave. So that the record will show someone was there, but it won't be his print on record. 
> 
> I don't have much to say beside....I wonder what L will find on that computer. (^.~)☆
> 
> Thank you guys so much for you continued love and support! It means the world to me and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> Next Time!!
> 
> And the walls come crumbling down....


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this?! Another chapter!? So soon?!
> 
> YES!!!
> 
> I've been waiting to write this scene forEVER. Since the very beginning. 
> 
> It's short, but I do hope you love it as much as I do!!!

Chapter 7

 

“Where is your....friend?”

Light looked up from his file with a sigh, in no mood for this childish behavior. Not today. “His name is Ryuzaki, and you know that.”

Teru’s mouth turned down in distaste, but he would get no sympathy from Light. It wasn’t his fault that Teru couldn’t make friends outside of work, and even those were more loose acquaintances than real friends. He wouldn’t play Teru’s petty games just because he was upset that Light had a friend other than him. 

“Where is, Ryuzaki, then? It’s been two day’s since he dropped by.” Teru said in feigned banality, leaning against the table where Light was trying to get some reading down through his lunch break. “The two of you usually have lunch together, at least.”

Light closed the file and turned back to his salad, it was clear he wouldn’t be getting much work done in the break room that day. He would just finish his lunch and go back to hiding in his office. 

So much for getting a little change of scenery for an hour.

“He’s busy with the Amane case.” And so Light was as well. He’d seen Hatori off a day ago. Wished him well as he boarded the bus to his minimum security facility that was known for being lenient with parole. That Light had been very adamant that he get into. If things went well Hatori would be out in a few years and then instantly fall off the map. 

Above him Teru snorted, quite unattractively, into his cup of tea. “I thought that was supposed to be an open shut deal. Didn’t they find the doctor trying to burn her office down to hide the evidence?”

“Not quite.” Light said shortly. He really, really, didn’t want to talk about this case. It was worse than the other one. Light would have walked away from it, but the firm was still on a high from the success with getting Hatori put away. Light had been roped into taking over this one as soon as it came in. 

As much as he hated it, even though every time he read about Misa Amane he felt the sudden urge to vomit from both nerves and disgust over how completely her life had been demolished. No matter that Light had never been so nervous, so frazzled, that he was looking over his shoulder every few minutes in case Temple officials were coming to take him away too. Or that he feared someone would connect one of Misa’s odd habits, like getting her suppressant laced vitamins delivered to her door instead of going to the store like everyone else, or beta scented perfumes, or her need for many many scent blocking soaps. Just like he did. Light wasn’t going to give up this case. 

He needed to be there for every update. He needed to know before the press, before his boss....Before L, if he could manage it. 

Luckily L was having more trouble with that computer than he had thought. Light’s heart had been in his throat for hours after he’d sent those pictures two days before. Hatori had walked out of his office with his head held high, secure in his methods to keep his patients safe. Ueda’s obvious fear, the demolishing of her office, it didn’t bode well for her files being as unreadable as Hatori’s 

Light had entertained the idea, if only briefly, of somehow breaking into L’s hotel and tampering with the computer. He could put fake files on it that if L could hack, or recover, would only show....what, he wasn’t sure. It would have to be something bad, something that would warrant the trashing of her office and files when she saw the police coming. 

A part of him felt guilty at conspiring to frame a doctor of running something like a child pornography ring out of her office, for he could think of nothing quite so terrible other than murder and really where was he to get a body? The guilt, however, subsided when he remembered that by doing so, he could be keeping a number of omegas out of the Temples, away from relationships they didn’t want, or any number of abuses that could and most likely would befall them once they were taken from their homes.

The problem was that he hadn’t been able to figure out how to pull it off. 

He was being watched, as paranoid as that sounded. He knew that L was keeping tabs on his office, that he often used public security feeds to follow suspects around. And though he liked L a lot, there had never been someone that he ever considered a friend such as L, he didn’t trust that he was cleared from L’s radar. 

Even if he could get enough privacy to work on this little extracurricular, there was still the problem of getting into L’s hotel and planting the evidence. 

And say that he did and it all worked out well, but that L, even after finding what Light wanted him to, kept looking and eventually unlocked the rest of Ueda’s real files, what then?

No....no it was better to wait. To be calm. To find out what L found out and plan from there. Working his subtle magic, his subterfuges and deceits to get L looking in the wrong direction whenever possible. He could do this. Ueda wasn’t his doctor, the evidence L found wouldn’t harm him. 

Just countless other omegas.

That Light wouldn’t be able to protect. 

The rest of his salad found it’s way in the trash as he left the room and a silent Teru , curiosity and concern marring his face, behind. He had lost what little appetite he had, and if he couldn’t eat then he needed to work. To plan. 

Maybe he’d take a peak into the NPA’s database. See what sort of long forgotten incriminating photos they had laying around. 

Just in case. 

Light checked his phone for the seventh time in so many minutes as he left the office. It was a bit earlier than he would usually leave, but even after he’d left Teru’s unwanted stares and insistent questions behind he found that he couldn’t focus, and in a bought of frustration decided to just leave. 

He had texted L about grabbing dinner while he was packing up, and if he didn’t reply back soon Light was just going to go take a shower and order in. He’d order enough to L in case he did manage to pry his nose off his computer screen long enough to eat and rest. But either way Light was beat, and he deserved a some greasy noodles and a bottle of wine. 

When he was coming to the turn off to leave the hotel behind and turn towards home and no message had arrived, Light turned off with shake of his head. He’d order L some sugar glazed chicken and some pea pods, and wait for him to come knocking at some ungodly hour to eat it on Light living room floor like the crazed little goblin that he was. When he was parked in front of his flat he shot L off a text saying just that. 

He bounded up the stairs two at a time, humming softly to himself. As he turned the key in the door his phone chimed softly in his hand. He couldn’t fight back a smile. Of course L would only reply now, that Light had offered him food. 

He kicked the door closed softly with the heel of his shoe, turning on the screen of his phone with one hand as the other sent his keys drifting to the bowl by the door. 

But it wasn’t a text from L that lit up his screen, it was his mother. It simply said, “Turn on channel 7.” With a frown he crossed the room and did just that. 

The news was on, as he knew it would be. He probably would have turned it on just for the noise anyway. But his mother wanted him see something, she never just told him to watching something or read something. Whatever it was couldn’t be good. 

Much like it had been on that morning that he and L watched Misa Amane being carted off, the scene that played before him was nothing but chaos. Cars and people everywhere. Flashing lights and the excited din of the crowd as someone in a white coat was loaded into a police car. 

Then the scene changed. 

Again and again the feed would cut to another person in white, another doctor, or a few times to the facade of a house where several people were being forced out and either shoved into police cars or large windowless vans. Again and again until Light, suddenly numb and breathless, watched as the camera focused on someone familiar. On a shock of white hair, long limbs, and the unsmiling, but never cruel face, of someone Light had come to trust with his life. 

The phone buzzed once more and with cold, shaking fingers he brought it back up to read his mother’s next message. 

“B13.” 

Something within him snapped upon seeing the code that he and his mother had made so long ago. Like waking up in the freezing rain. Calm fell on him at once. There was no time to panic, no time to mourn what once was. 

The phone slipped from his now steady hand, falling, careless, on the floor. 

Light turned from it, from the damning news report, from everything, and simply walked away.

Thirty minutes later the phone’s screen lit with a large Gothic L and began to ring from where he had fallen, forgotten on the rug. 

A piercing siren in the silent room.

No one there to hear it ring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!!!
> 
> Oh, I'm just so happy to be here, at this part of the story!!! I was playing around with holding out on this scene for a little longer, but couldn't think of anything to put in between that wouldn't just be filler so, here we are!
> 
> I've had such a hard time these last two weeks getting back in the swing of writing and then all of this just spilled out in like an hour yesterday! But I held off on editing until this morning. 
> 
> I imagine that Sachiko and Light have come up with a number of escape plans and the like in case they ever needed them. And that they are code names, numbered and lettered so that no one but them know what it is. Sachiko, having a in on what's going on with the police can tell Light which plan they need to enact based on where the police are stationed and what routes would be safest.   
> Despite the code I used, I don't plan on B actually showing up....It was just too tempting to use those particular numbers and letter.
> 
> Sorry this is so short, and super cliffhangery. But I do hope everyone enjoyed it!! and are looking forward to more! Thank you guys so much for reading!!! Y'all are the best!!!   
> ♡( ◡‿◡ ) 
> 
> Stayed tuned for   
> Next Time!!
> 
> L wants to share his excitement at recovering Ueda's files with Light....why isn't she answering her phone?


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

 

L always found visiting Light’s apartment building a pleasant occasion. But then, that was obviously what the designers and decorators intended when they made it. His initial curiosity on why an unmated alpha in their prime would want to live there and not an alpha bachelor pad, which was what most alphas did after living at home with their parents and before finding a mate to settle down with. 

Of course he had assumed it was just Light’s obsessive, and eccentric, need for perfection and overindulgence in all aspects of her life. Now after, what was it....fifteen such occasions, L saw the building for what it was. 

Cozy, quiet. It was a haven of sorts. Even on days when L was at his lowest, when nothing had gone right and he was certain the universe was out to get him, visiting Light at her apartment never failed to soothe the rugged edges of his soul. 

“The number you dialed-” 

L sighed, looking down at his phone first in annoyance that then turned to amusement almost instantly. Light was the pettiest person he’d ever met. Leave it to her to be upset that he hadn’t returned her texts sooner. And she’ll assume he was only doing it now because she promised him food. Shaking his head L cleared the door to Light’s hall, he had brought a peace gift. A bottle of that nice sweet wine that Light was fond of and a small strawberry cake that was mostly just for him. Not that he wouldn’t share it, and Light would take at least a bite to be friendly, of course. 

He felt springy. Elated! Two days was probably nothing for most people, but for L it had felt like a monumental failure. Ueda’s office was a wreck, her daily files and inbox were chaos. But the security on her hidden files were, L had to grudgingly admit, impressive. Two days of slow, tormenting code cracking, the pay off of which had been beyond his wildest dreams! So many names. So many doctors and alphas that connected to each other, a few even led him back to cases he’d taken on in other parts of the world. So much information on how they worked. So many secrets. 

So many omegas now safely away from their abusers. 

It was a night for celebrations! For eating too sugar glazed chicken and strawberry cake. For drinking too much and falling asleep on his best friend’s floor. For singing and laughing! 

If he’d ever had a bigger break in a case, a bigger case to break, he couldn’t remember it in that moment. It was a high he’d never felt before. 

And he wanted to share it all with Light. 

He dialed Light’s number again as he reached the door, smirking when he heard the accompanying ring form within. He knew she was home, she was just being purposefully ornery. She got like this sometimes, acted upset when she wasn’t just to work an apology out of him. Or complements.

Mostly complements. 

The phone continued to ring and there were no other sounds from inside that indicated someone walking or moving around, so he knocked. Loudly. 

She was probably in the shower. She took such long showers! How could someone possibly find enough to do in a shower to warrant them being longer than five minutes he would never understand. 

Well....she did have a lot hair....

“Light!?” he called out, phone still ringing, the knocking going unnoticed. When she didn’t answer his call, any of them, he placed a gentle hand on the doorknob, looked around to make sure no one was in the hall to see before trying the door. 

If it was locked he could easily pick it, he’d say it had been open, of course, and then kid her a bit about how unsafe it was to shower with one’s door unlocked. 

The door opened easily at his touch. Not locked. Maybe not even closed all the way. It was so unlike Light.

The TV was on, it was the only other sound in the flat. No movement from the other rooms. Nothing but the smell of the take out Light had promised him and the ringing of her phone. There was something hollow about the place, causing the hairs on his arms to raise, his neck to prickle. 

It was his imagination. He was being silly, Light was probably just getting dressed. It wasn’t like he could ever scent her anyway, how would he know if she were in the flat just by walking in. 

“Light?” He called again, a little louder now that the door was closed and he didn’t fear disturbing Light’s nice neighbors. 

No answer came from the back, from Light’s room or the guest room. Only the ringing of his phone and droning of the television. 

He ended the call, sitting the wine and cake down next to the cooling takeout on the bar between the kitchen and living room before walking over to pick up her phone. There were several missed calls, not just from him either. Light’s father and sister had been trying to contact her as well. He couldn’t read the messages or hear the voice recordings, not while Light’s phone was locked. 

Unsurprisingly Light had her phone password protected. Perhaps even less surprising was that L knew a way around such things. Phones were not nearly as secure as most people thought them to be. 

The screen opened to the messenger app, a conversation between her and her mother. It was short, one sided. Sachiko telling Light to turn on the news, followed by “B13” and nothing else. What did it mean? Light had obviously known and run off to do whatever it was the message meant.

Maybe a death in the family?

L browsed the other messages curiously. He didn’t know what the right thing to do would be in the case of a family crisis. Should he stay? Try to straighten up and make the place nice for when Light came back? They could drink the wine and eat the cake and be sad if that was how the night was going to play out. 

He could adapt. 

The messages started out calm enough, if a bit confusing. It seemed that Sachiko had stepped for a while and hadn’t told her husband or daughter that she was leaving or where she was going. Nothing too worrying. Like L, Soichirou and Sayu figured she must be with Light, they simply wanted to confirm if it was so.

The messages became more frequent and heated as time went on. Sachiko hadn’t just stepped out, she’d packed a bag, her passport was gone. Soichirou and Sayu were both beside themselves with worry. 

Something twisted, painful and suffocating both, in L’s chest. With Light’s phone still clutched in his hand he looked around, really seeing the flat for the first time since entering. 

He’d been there often enough that he knew it all from memory by now. Light’s shelves and tiny tables that held her precious collection of figurines and framed photo’s of her and her dazzling family. Her prized paintings, the gaudy rug and tacky tasseled pillows that littered the room. Making it soft. Den like.

There was a closet by the door, one he’d opened once to have a peak around, found it boring and never looked back in. It was open now, and drew L like a siren song. Not much was moved from the only other time he’d looked in. There were still coats handing up, still an umbrella on its little hook, still shoes hanging from a caddy on the wall. What was different. What he hadn’t noticed before. Was the safe. 

It was built into the wall, had been hidden behind the coats and a few well placed purses. Now it lay open, bare, for him to see. 

He clutched Light’s phone to his chest as he swept through the rest of the flat. Budding anger replacing worry in an adrenaline filled rush. He didn’t want to believe what he was seeing. Still wanted to delude himself that Light was there, that he’d walk in on her getting into her ugly lounge clothes. She’d shriek at him for not knocking, probably throw something on him, and then he could tell her all about how his family was worried about her mother. 

That fantasy was crushed when he entered her room. He felt his heart had stopped when he stepped what left like a war zone. Everything was in tatters. Drawers and closet open, clothes thrown around in haphazard heaps. A quick look in the bathroom showed that most of her soaps and perfumes, and the rest of her little bottles were missing. All but one.

A small bottle of blue glass. One of those hip modern perfumes that L would have just look over in stores. Not that he ever pursued such things himself, he quite enjoyed his own scent and never really cared for artificial ones. If this bottle, small and delicate and oh so boring, had been among the normal clutter that usually filled Light’s bathroom, he would have just looked over. 

He had looked over it before, when he peaked into Light’s personal rooms when she was busy bringing in food one night. 

Now, though, the bottle came into sharp focus. A beacon, a connection, a clue. Not unlike the closet, the safe. 

The label was so plain it was almost painful. French, so that most people wouldn’t even know what it was meant to say. Light would know. L knew. The front label didn’t say anything beside assuring that the scent was fresh and lovely. It was the back, in teeny tiny print, listed in the middle of a block of writing that even those who knew French would probably never suffer through reading. But L did. It said quite plainly. 

‘Authentic Alpha Pheromones’ 

He already knew what he would find when he opened the bottle. The scent he’d gotten here and there from Light over the past few months. Subtle, fresh, but unmistakably alpha. 

The sound of glass cracking snapped him back to himself, he hadn’t even realized the anger, the confusion, that pumped through him until he looked down at Light’s phone, the screen now broken, in his hand. Carefully he placed both the phone and the bottle on the counter. It took much longer for his shaking hands to release them than it should have. Taking a few steps back was a monumental feat. They were no longer Light’s possessions. 

They were evidence. 

There was a calm that fell upon L whenever the case was a foot. A clarity of mind that could only come with total emotional separation. Not conducive to making and keeping friends, but very helpful with solving cases. Doing what had to be done, things that would turn the stomachs of others. Things that, if he were anyone other than himself, anyone at all, would have probably driven him mad by now. 

Had driven others mad along the way. 

L stood in Light’s overly lavish bathroom, waiting for the veil of detachment to fall. 

He had his puzzle, he had clues, this was when he his brain usually took over and began to make the connections. Draw hypothetical conclusions. 

Light and her mother had both packed bags and left home without telling anyone, presumably after seeing the news that afternoon. Light had alpha pheromone perfume and an emptied out safe. She had left in a rush. She wouldn’t have texted L and gotten them dinner if she had planned this ahead. 

L’s hands shook at his sides, the tranquility he so relied on refusing to come. He took a deep breath, tried to come to terms with what he already knew. 

He didn’t need the separation. 

There was a commotion from the other room. The front door opening, bouncing off the wall. The deep voice of Soichirou Yagami as he called, desperately, for his daughter and wife. 

There was no need for him to lose himself to know the truth. 

Not this time. 

There was only one thing that Light and Sachiko could be running from. 

L’s chest...his heart, perhaps, though he had never really considered that he’d had one...squeezed so painfully it nearly brought him to his knees, forced his breath out through gritted teeth. Alone in Light’s room, adrift among the ruined remains of Light’s life, L knew two things with absolute, excruciating, certainty. 

Light Yagami was an omega.

And L had driven them away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovelies!!!
> 
> We're back so soon....again!! 
> 
> A part of me wants to be sorry that these chapters are so short BUT there have been three chapters in two weeks, and that's really good, so I think it's fine.   
> As much as I wanted to keep going after this scene, to pick up where I want to for the next one this is where I had to break off. 
> 
> I feel kinda bad for this chapter actually. All L wanted to do was spend some time with his bestie and well....they're gone. 
> 
> So obviously now we have the aftermath of both Light and Sachiko disappearing to deal with, as well as how their family, co workers, and L are going to be taking the realization that Light isn't who he says he was. 
> 
> Also!! We are to the point where everyone will know that Light wasn't a woman, so I don't think we'll be using She/Her pronouns very much anymore. I know some of you have found that confusing, but it's pretty much over now. Thank you for hanging in there!!! 
> 
> I also want to say sorry for all the panic attacks that last chapter caused! That wasn't my intent, but I'm super happy that everyone found it so intense! Thank you guys so so much for you comments and kudos, and for just reading this! I love this story a lot, so I'm very happy to find out you guys love it too. I really hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!!!
> 
> L is feeling a lot of things right now, and he's not really used to feeling much of anything...so I wonder how he's going to handle this once the shock wears off. 
> 
> I guess we'll have to see. 
> 
> NEXT TIME!
> 
> The Aftermath


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

The once peaceful haven that was Light’s little flat had been solidly destroyed. 

The police raced through the rooms like a hoard of angry ants, poking, dusting, and snapping pictures of anything they thought might be useful. They looked through Light’s cupboards, pantry, fridge, and closets. Taking out everything that he, or possibly anyone who might be helping him, might have touched. 

L was seated on Light’s sofa, for all purposes he was overseeing the destruction that everyone credited him with starting. The truth was he couldn’t have stopped it if he wanted to. Some things were beyond even L’s control, though he had never realized it before. He’d never found a crime scene, for that’s what they’d labeled it, and wanted to let that scene lie, untouched. 

Until now. 

L maybe, possibly, could have kept it under wraps for a while, but the moment someone from the outside came in the jig was up....So really this destruction was all Soichirou’s fault. 

He was not handling things quite as well as L was. Not that L was handling this well at all. But at least he was keeping it all together on the outside. 

Soichirou was seated on the chair that Light usually favored. When they used to lounge around, eating take out and drinking wine, watching those old melodramas on the beta ‘revolution’, Light would sling his legs over one arm of the chair with his head propped against the other, his favorite gold tasseled pillow hugged his chest as he dozed. Which of course he always denied doing, and how dare L accuse him of sleeping through his favorite show!

Soichirou sat, hunched over, Light’s favorite pillow clenched between his straining fists. 

L feared for the pillow’s life. 

“It’s all my fault.” He said again, for the hundredth time that night. But at least he wasn’t pacing and throwing things....anymore. 

“Possibly.” L said lowly, holding Soichirou’ss gaze unwaveringly when he looked up. “You’re lucky though, Chief Yagami.”

“Lucky!” 

L cut him off before Soichirou could rage once more. “Lucky, because if you were anyone else you would have been taken into custody for questioning and possibly imprisoned.” L reached over and took the pillow from Soichirou at the first pained groans of ripping seams. “You are Lucky, Chief Yagami, that I believe you knew nothing of this.” Because he was still L, he was still running this investigation, and Light was now part of the whole thing.

He had been all along. 

Behind Soichirou, Mastuda slumped against the back of the chair. He was supposed to be helping with the gathering of evidence, but no one really trusted him to not break anything. And L had seen the looks he’d sent Light when he though Light was an alpha, there was no way he was getting access to Light’s personal effects now that they all knew the truth. Not that he was putting up any of a fuss about being stuck in the proverbial corner. He looked lost, perhaps even more so than Soichirou himself.

“Why don’t you go home?” L suggested to them both. Matsuda just blinked his large dopey eyes at him like he couldn’t understand him anymore. Soichirou’s shoulders dropped even further. 

“It’s the same there...they wanted to look through her things,” Soichirou sighed, pulling out his phone to bring up the last report they’d sent. “They didn’t find anything. No written codes, or plans. Whatever B13 means there are no clues at home.” 

L had tucked Light’s pillow under his arms, leaned his weight on it as he perched in thought. He had already figured out that it was unlikely that they’d find any written record, any at all, within the two houses. There was nothing in Light’s flat that could point to anything suspicious, except the mess he had left. And only then it was because he and Light’s family knew what a clean freak he was. 

They would find nothing because Light didn’t want them to. He had been as thorough in his escape as he had been in his charade. L stood and headed to the door. There was nothing there for him. 

He gave a few orders, told those that looked up, giving him curious looks for leaving so soon, that they should continue and send him the reports when they were ready. He left them behind, lost in his own thoughts. Nothing helpful. He simply couldn’t help but replay all of their experiences over and over again. 

He should have been combing every memory for something he could use to track Light down. But he was sure that there wasn’t anything useful, just a bunch signs that only made sense now, in retrospect. Like Light’s unease at the temple, his lack of scent on the day of their tennis match but his subtle hint of pheromones on other days. He had pushed it off as Light going off her suppressants for a few days. Not long enough to rut but enough to keep her health up...such a thing was possible, even if it hadn’t been true. 

He, not her. Light had been a gamma before presenting, which made him a male omega, not a female alpha. He. Light had done a very good job pretending to not only be a woman but an alpha....how had he been able to do so, so completely?

Watari was waiting out front, he’d probably been there for hours. There was a computer and everything he needed to do his own work inside the care, it was as much his office as any hotel they set up in. His own mobile base. L slipped into the back of the car, told Watari to go back to the hotel and peered sullenly out the window. 

They didn’t move. 

“Why aren’t we moving?” He asked, voice hollow to even his own ears. 

“L...is everything alright?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” He bit out sharply. Watari was the closest thing he’d ever had to a father, but that did not give him the right to start doing...doing...whatever it was he was doing besides driving L back to his hotel where he kept his bourbon and cake. 

“Of course, L.” Watari said, soft and smug as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. “I only ask because you are leaving with one of Light san’s pillows. I’m sure you have good reason though.”

L blinked down at his lap where he was sill clutching the hideous rose embroidered gold tasseled pillow. 

Light’s favorite one. 

“It nothing.” He said shortly, “It’s for the case.”

“Of course it is. I never doubted it for a minute.” 

Watari was a liar and they both knew it. 

L was thankful for his efforts all the same. 

 

~~~

 

They had kept Light’s room exactly how she’d left it when she moved out after college. 

Being the kind and considerate alpha daughter that she was she had begged them to do with it as they pleased. That she wouldn’t mind sleeping on the couch or bunking with Sayu on the few nights a year she stayed over, which was only Christmas whenever they were celebrating birthdays. 

But they had been insistent to keep it exactly the same. 

Convenience had been their excuse. That it was easy to keep it like that. Unchanged, as a guest room for whenever they had visitors and an extra spot for Light to store things if she ran out of room in that tiny apartment she just had to have. 

The truth was that Light was their pride and joy. They hoped that if her room were there she’d find her way home more often. If she had a home to come back to she’d never leave them for good. Soichirou had even harbored a ridiculous dream that Light would move back home, abandon her little apartment in the city and stay with them for good once more. Maybe one day she’d bring a nice beta home, as she’d never showed any interest in omegas. And it wasn’t as though Soichirou could blame her there. They were lovely, certainly, but in jobs like they had, one simply couldn’t give an omega the care and attention they would need. 

Of course he knew the truth about that now as well...as much as his mind wanted to veer away from such a revelation. 

And he should probably start thinking of Light as what she was....what he was. It didn’t even seem possible. 

How could it be possible?

He had been there, hadn’t he? For Light’s whole life, for Sayu’s too. Sure he had missed doctor’s appointments when they got a little older, but he had all the reports, the shot records, every hospital receipt. Even the bloody presentation papers! He had them all! Of course some of them were fakes, weren’t they? It was the only solution. Sachiko had betrayed him. Lied to him. Hidden a whole other life from him and Sayu. 

How had she even found a doctor to falsify the reports, to give Light hormones without his consent? He was the alpha of the house, he should have been the one they went through for anything like that. 

But then, those who’s morals were pitted and crumbling probably cared nothing about that. This doctor, this villain, Rem Shinzou, had hurt his child for their own devious devices. He would find out exactly why. 

He didn’t blame Light, of course. Sachiko would have needed to start this early and Doctor Shinzou’s records showed that she had first taken him in when Light was only nine years old. That was more than half of his life being force fed suppressants and brainwashed to keep his true self secret. 

It all boiled down to one fact.

Soichirou had failed. As a father. As an alpha. He may be the Chief of police, but his first priority should have always been his family. For so long he thought it had been. Thought he had done well by them. Provided everything they needed and then some. He had prided himself on being a strong and caring alpha. 

The stack of medical reports that sat next to him on the bed were proof that wasn’t so. 

How many times over the years had Light been rushed to the hospital for medical attention. A broken arm here, a sprain there. That time he had fallen ill when he and his friends had sneaked around to go swimming in a neighbors pool after dark. In winter! It had all seemed like good fun then. Things an alpha child should be getting up to. 

But Light wasn’t an alpha. 

Light’s room was clean, just as tidy as he’d kept it when he lived there. Decorated in soft blues and charcoal black. All strong lines and crisp corners. It was a very alpha space. So different from the little flat that Light had acquired. A day ago he would have been surprised to find anything soft and sentimental in Light’s old room. Light had always been spotless, no fuss and to the point. Soichirou had always assumed she’d hired a decorator once she was on her own, the differences were just too great.

No, not, her....he. Soichirou thought that he had hired a decorator. After all, what did Light know of soft and comfortable things....when Light was an alpha he’d always pushed those things away. 

After getting the medical records from the cabinet in his office, Soichirou had ended up in Light’s old room. It hadn’t been intentional, he knew he should leave it how it was encase L wanted to comb over it as well. Demolish it as Light’s flat had been demolished. He should have just left it untouched...shouldn’t have walked through the room, imagining Light’s laughter from when Soichirou would read him stories as a small child. Remember the smile on his face when Soichirou surprised him with his very first computer. He shouldn’t have opened the closet, gazed upon Light’s old clothes. He shouldn’t have taken note, properly, for the first time, of how small they were. How soft the fabric was. 

He really should have known. 

It didn’t even surprise him to find a small, plush bear sitting on the top shelf of the closet. Light had had so few stuffed animals as a child. One day he had just decided to get rid of them all...Soichirou’s lips curled derisively, it had been around Light’s tenth birthday. He had wanted to donate his entire collection and asked that he not be given such things anymore as gifts. Soichirou had been so proud that his little alpha was growing up. 

Now his heart broke over what it probably meant for Light to lose such simple, comforting things. 

He had lost count of how long he sat on the edge of Light’s bed, the medical reports long forgotten as he cradled the last of Light’s childhood in his arms. The sun was mostly down when he’d gotten in and the room had grown dark around him. The small lamp on Light’s desk did little to brighten the room, the wane light, blue and pale, didn’t quite fill in the shadowed corners. The room felt cold. Bare. 

He’d have to fix that. 

Get lamps that would fill the room with warmth. Maybe he’d be able to bring in some of the things that Light had in his flat. He’d probably like the bed he’d slept in for the past few years, all his pillows and blankets. Some of his paintings too would really liven up the room. He could paint the walls, maybe a nice rosy pink, or deep red. Something that would make him feel safe and comfortable. Weren’t the walls in Light’s flat’s bedroom a red color? He’d probably like that better than eggshell blue. 

There were other things he’d have to do as well. 

The balcony would have to be sealed off. He would talk to a contractor as soon as L cleared the room from investigation. He’d replace the door with thick glass windows, seamless, double paned at least. Or he’d block it off altogether. It would be good at keeping Light safe, though it posed fire safety hazards. Not that Light would get a key to the window...omega safety was a tricky thing. Though he was determined to keep this room for his son instead of building another more secure room in attic like some people did. 

Yes, if he blocked the balcony, got several scent blocking devices to keep his scent well within the room, and put up extra security throughout the rest of the house then Light would be safe once he was back home. 

And the Temple wouldn’t come and take his child away from him. 

The doorway darkened as a small figure blocked the more substantial light from the hall. The shadow moved across the room on small, silent feet. A hint of softly curved cheek framed by silky long hair caught the light, Soichirou’s heart stopped. It couldn’t be. Please let it be!

“Light?”

The small figure stepped fully in the light, and his traitorous heart sank. It was Sayu, and he shouldn’t feel so terribly empty at seeing her. 

“No, dad, it just me.” She smiled, soft and sad. She looked so much like Light. They were almost of a height, same delicate features and long smooth hair. Sayu’s eyes and hair were brown though, where Light was more golden. They had been mistaken as twins more than a few times in their lives. Something that had irked them as children, but had become a point a humor between them as young adults. 

She lifted the small stack of medical reports from the bed and sat down in their place, reading over them briefly before tossing them aside with distaste. “How could they not tell us?” 

Soichirou shook his head, lost for any answer that would be a satisfying. “I don’t know, baby,” he said instead. His low voice still felt too loud, too rough for the silent room. 

“Light could have told us.” Her voice was thick with anger, with despair. She was always one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, one of the ways in which she was so different from Light. She loved Light like no one else. Had always looked up to her elder alpha sister. Where Soichirou felt nothing but failure for his omega child, Sayu felt the bitter sting of betrayal. 

Soichirou shook his head. “If Light was afraid, or threatened, he wouldn’t have been able to tell us.”

She leveled him with narrowed, chestnut eyes, razor sharp in her anger. “You really think Light didn’t play a part in this? That it wasn’t his choice?”

He couldn’t meet her eyes just then, she was too worked up, she didn’t understand how the world really worked. She was so lucky to be a beta. At least that was something. If she had been hiding who she truly was, Sachiko would have probably stolen her away as well. He dropped his eyes instead to the small bear in his hands. Remembered how Light had clutched it close as he raced through the house as a toddler, carefree. How he’d curl up with it on the couch when he was tired. 

How he used to climb into Soichirou’s lap, arms thrown around this neck, nose pressed into his shoulder, finding comfort and security in his scent. He’d fall asleep like that sometimes, all the while the little bear’s arm held in his small grip. 

“He didn’t have a choice in the matter. Suppressing you dynamic, living a lie, these aren’t things a nine year old can process. After years of being told by his mother that what they were doing was right, well, he would have never seen it for what it was. Would only trust what he was been told.” He tried lay it out for her to see. She didn’t have the sort of analytical mind that could sort out the big picture in her mind. She didn’t know the all the stories, the cases, of omegas being brainwashed by those around them into doing harmful things. It would take time for her to understood the sort of abuses her mother had inflicted to her brother.

She glanced down at the nearest medical paper, the others scattered carelessly across the bed in her earlier fury. She picked it up, turning to the light. “Light sure had a lot of broken bones,” she lips twisted in a humorless laugh. “Is that normal for an alpha?”

“A few are, yes.” But Light had had more than a few. He must have been going out of his way to make sure no one thought him weak, hurting himself, putting his life in danger just for a charade. 

“Did she make him do that too? Hurt himself?” 

“We can assume so. We’ll know more once we find them.”

“So that’s it?” She asked, anger abated into exhaustion. “We just have to hope that they can find them? What then? What will happen to mom? To Light?”

“We’ll make this house safe for Light, they won’t take him away!” He would do everything he had to, no matter the cost or inconvenience to himself. He would have time with his omega child before anyone came to take him away. He would get back what little of Light’s childhood that had been snatched from them. 

“And mom?”

He was silent for some time, unsure what to say, how to say it. He himself hadn’t really wanted to dwell on it. He knew, of course, what would likely happen to her. After knowing what she had done, what she was capable of, he couldn’t even say it was sorrow he felt. 

“Your mother broke the law, many laws,” Soichirou shook his head, he was just so tired. So tired, and so very angry. “She hurt your brother, tore us apart.”

“They’ll arrest her.”

“They will.”

Sayu paused, staring at him with an intensity that was so very much like Light. “You don’t even care what happens to her.” It came out as a whisper, a realization and not a question. 

He turned to her, fixed her with the stare he always gave her when she was doing something she new was wrong. The one that meant he was the alpha and knew what was best. It usually cowed her instantly. She was wildfire, a raging storm, but she was always a sweet girl as well. 

It took a little longer for her gaze to drop that night, her anger and shock fighting to be right, for him to be wrong just this once. But bow her head she did. He wrapped a large arm around her, pulled her close. Held her and Light’s doll tightly to his heart. 

“I love you and Light more than anything in this world. Anything, Sayu. Your mother...I’ve loved her for years. But the moment I found out she had done this to my child,” he took a deep breath as another surge of pure fury threatened to rip through him. “I care what happens to her,” he said shortly. And it was the truth, he wanted her to pay for what she did. “But I care about keeping you and your brother safe more.”

Sayu nodded into his shoulder, her smalls hands clutched onto his wrinkled shirt. “They’ll find them. Right?”

He ran a hand through her long hair, trying to impart all the comfort he could to her through touch and scent. Like he always had when she and Light were little. “L is on the case. If anyone can find them, he can.”

They stayed there long into the night, and when Sayu fell asleep against his chest Soichirou lifted her and tucked into the Light’s bed with care. Placing the little bear next to her on the bed. He couldn’t bring himself to leave her side. To let his only protected child out of his sight. So once he locked up for the night Soichirou made himself comfortable in the armchair in Light’s room. 

He spent the night watching over his child as she slept. 

 

~~~

 

Long nights at the firm were nothing new, especially for Teru Mikami. Often cases required that someone stay late to make sure final threads were snipped and tied up neatly. Teru didn’t mind stepping in to do these things. His home had become a lonely place after his mother’s death, on top of which he truly enjoyed the time he could spend in the office. The building was sleek, chrome and glass, and simple minimalistic design that lent itself to comfort while still being easy on the eye. It was a far sight cozier than his bare flat. 

And if he was really lucky Light would be staying late as well. He could drop in and have a few words here and there whenever he needed to stretch his legs. Bring Light a coffee. If they were working the same case he’d move his things into Light’s office and work on the corner of her desk. 

On a few, deeply treasured, occasions Light had even invited him over to her apartment where they had wine and enough coffee to last the night while they finished a tricky case. 

Not that any of those things had happened for a while. Not since that hooligan, Ryuzaki came into the picture. Whatever Light saw in him Teru just couldn’t figure out. Maybe it was just that Ryuzaki said he worked with the great L, someone for whom Light had always shown a great deal of interest and respect. 

Teru didn’t allow himself to feel jealous of threatened of Light’s fascination with L. They were lawyers, after all, not detectives. The chances of L ever taking interest in one of their cases had been so very slim that Teru didn’t allow it to get in the way of his long term goals. 

But they had to come sniffing around after that doctor, and now with this new information, all the arrests that had taken place that afternoon, it was unlikely that Ryuzaki would be leaving anytime soon. 

It just meant one thing. That Teru had to speed up his plans a little. Which wouldn’t be too difficult. He had years of working into Light’s good graces, he wasn’t going to let some scrawny alpha that just marched in out of nowhere to get in his way!

First things first, he had stayed late, compiled portfolios on all of the doctors and what they knew about their secret underground drug and omega smuggling into a nice, sleek, file. He would leave it on Light’s desk for her to find in the morning. Which she would, right next to a coffee and cranberry scone from the cafe she liked so much. 

Ryuzaki had stopped dropping by unannounced after the first time, he hardly ever popped in during the day, which meant that Teru could forge on with his attempts to win Light’s affections. 

Not an easy thing to do either, considering he’d been working at it for years now. Ryuzaki may know L but he was not L himself. Her fascination with him couldn’t last. Eventually she would return her coveted attentions back to Teru. 

Light might be an alpha, but she was small and beautiful. She was fierce, passionate, and incredibly intelligent. Teru was usually very traditional. Alphas and omegas were made for each other, omegas needed an alpha to take care of them. And where Teru knew alphas could make do alone, the need to care for and protect someone special was a constant, aching, presence. Like his chest was slowly caving in and only the love of another could fill it. 

But Teru also knew he’d never be able to go through the process of finding an omega. If he took the required time off to go through the interviews he would fall too far behind. He’d never step out of Light’s shadow then. Plus he would have to stop these late nights. An omega needed constant care. 

Like his mother...he blamed himself more than anyone for her death. She had been sick, she needed him there, but she had insisted that the care the beta nurses gave her when he was at school was enough. It wasn’t. 

He would never forgive himself for not being there when she needed him. 

He couldn’t take care of an omega when he was so caught up in Light’s radiance. In her intelligent eyes, and lovely smile. In her easy, intoxicating grace. He had to be there. To be near her. 

To eventually win her over. 

He had decided long ago that if he couldn’t trust himself to have a precious omega to care for, having someone as magnificence as Light would be just as good. Better even. An omega would fill an instinctual need, sooth his alpha side. But Light could give him companionship, a bright mind to talk to. They would spend endless days just talking, growing together. And at the end of it all he could wrap Light’s small body against his and find true peace. 

Utterly perfect. 

He swept through the door to Light’s office, his spirits were always lifted by being in Light’s office, or in her house, or just by her side. But the sight that met his eyes when he opened the door had him stopping up short, his smile fading from his face. 

What the hell was Ryuzaki doing there? Sitting at Light’s desk no less!

His overly large, grey eyes locked onto Teru as soon as the door opened. His gaze hungry, feral. “Mikami Teru, wasn’t it?” He said in way of greeting. “What brings you to Light’s office when she’s not here?”

Teru gripped the file he’d painstakingly made in his hand, how dare this cad ask him that! He was the one snooping through Light’s office when she wasn’t there! The audacity! He knew Ryuzaki wasn’t to be trusted!

“I could ask you the same thing, Ryuzaki san. And seeing as how you don’t actually work here, with Light, I think my suspicions hold a little more water.” Teru fought back a satisfied smirk. Let the bastard have a bit of that! 

Ryuzaki leaned back in Light’s plush leather chair. Teru had always wondered how supple and nice that chair must be, had fantasized about sitting where Light did. 

But he never would.

He would never break Light’s trust in such a way. Touch her things without permission. The very thought that someone else had sent white hot anger racing through his veins.

Ryuzaki seemed unfazed, neither Teru’s venomous rebuttal nor the gleam of hatred in his dark eyes seemed to have any effect on him at all. It was maddening!

Teru took a deep breath, he smoothed the ridges he had pressed into the file out as best he could. He would have go and print another copy...he would be terribly embarrassed to give this to Light now. 

Ryuzaki ruined everything. 

“I,” he said in an even voice that brooked no arguments, “Am here to deliver a file for Light to review in the morning. I,” his voice grew in timber as he stepped right up the end of Light’s large desk to look down, down, down, on the worm that was Ryuzaki, “Am here because I sometimes work late. Which I am fully in my rights to do.”

“Yes,” Ryuzaki said softly, eyes unfocused, clearly he wasn’t even talking to Teru, who was right there. Whom he had just accused of something that Teru had every right to do. “That is a likely answer.”

“Why, then, are you here, Ryuzaki san?”

Ryuzaki turned his gaze back to him, leisurely, to blink curiously at him. As though it wasn’t important enough to remember he was even in the room. “Tell me about Light. About what you know about her past.”

It was Teru’s turn to gape at him in surprise, before his heart stuttered in his chest. “Why? Did something happen? Is Light alright?”

“Calm down, Mikami, Light is fine...I sure...I just need to know.”

Teru wanted to rant, to throw a punch at the smug bastard. How dare he! How dare he come in here and demand such things from Teru in Light’s office? As though he was entitled to any part of Light’s life! 

He took a deep, steadying breath instead. “Light is a female alpha, top of her class since probably pre-school, the lead lawyer in our firm. Best in the whole city, actually.” Teru shrugged. “You’ve been out with her, seen her flat, you know as much as I do, I’m sure.”

It would be a cold day in hell when he admitted that Ryuzaki probably knew more about Light’s personal life than he did. 

“That’s it?”

The way he asked it, with a sneer, a haughty gleam in his large, frog-like eyes, boiled Teru’s blood instantly. “I’ve met her family. Been over there for dinner a few times.” Twice, just twice, but it was something! “They are lovely people.” 

Ryuzaki regarded him a few minutes, unblinking. When he spoke his voice was low and calculating, though his expression never changed. “So you knew nothing about forged and falsified medical reports? About how Light received shipments of illegal and dangerous medication? You didn’t know that Light is actually an omega who has been posing as an alpha since the age of nine?”

When Ryuzaki first opened his mouth Teru almost couldn’t control his anger. Of all the inane things. To come in here, sit in Light’s chair, and accuse her of forging medical records, or trafficking illegal drugs. Then it registered, as though rising through a fog. Ryuzaki thought Light was an omega....it was...

“Impossible.” Teru whispered, his throat going dry suddenly. “That’s just...impossible.”

Ryuzaki opened a folder, it had been sitting before him on the desk, Teru must not of noticed...he pushed it toward Teru with a single finger. “After viewing the arrests of several doctors who have been found in this city to be giving suppressants and other illegal drugs to omegas, Light and Sachiko Yagami packed up and fled. That,” he pointed to the file, “Is the information we found in Doctor Shinzou Rem’s office regarding one Miko Asahi. A.K.A, Yagami Light.”

Teru picked up with the file with hesitant hands, held it shaking as he read. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t. There was nothing in the file that would make him think of Light. It was a completely different name!

“Why would you possibly think this is Light?”

Something dark flickered over Ryuzaki’s eyes, just for a moment. He pushed out of Light’s chair with a sigh and walked over to a picture that had always hung on the wall. It was a photograph of Light and her family, taken probably when she was still in highschool. They were at the beach, a beautiful, golden family with Light at the center. Her arm draped playfully over Sayu’s shoulders as their parents stood behind them with wide, proud smiles. 

Ryuzaki just stared at if for a solid minute before saying. “The funny thing is, we might not have realized it was. Had Light and Sachiko not fled.” His voice trailed off for a moment, when he turned back to Teru his dark eyes shone in the low light of the desk lamp. “An empty flat, a few very telling items, the tv left with the news of the arrests on. It was all quite telling. We ran Light’s official records against those in the records we recovered. That was an exact match.”

Teru looked over the report again. It would have been an impressive display of adolescent daring and a young alpha. Broken limbs, sprains, fractures. One concussion. His own records had looked much the same before he had presented. Once he was officially an alpha the need to be over the top to prove himself waned with actual physical evidence that he was powerful. there wasn’t anything that suspicious on the list for quite some time.

Then starting around the time this Miko Asahi was twelve years old, over and over again, the recurring prescription for an omega suppressant. The names and strengths changed periodically, Teru had no idea what any of it meant. Except one, unbelievable thing.

“How can she be an omega?” He asked softly. 

“’He’, Mikami san. Light was a gamma, if he was not really an alpha that makes him a male omega.” 

It was ludicrous. Absolute insanity. It was....it was...

It was perfect!

Light was strong, gorgeous, intelligent. If he was an omega then he’d be perfect. Perfect to Teru. Perfect for his plans. Light wouldn’t fall ill, he’d never missed work, not even once. He’d understand when Teru needed to work late. He knew the job, after all. They could still spend their evenings in deep, wonderful conversation. 

Only Teru would finally be able to curb that deep, scorching, desire that was always, always there to find an omega. To mate and protect. 

It wasn’t a hinder to his planes, just a minor adjustment. It made the whole thing so much better. “You’ll find them?”

“Of course.” Ryuzaki said softly, his grey eyes hard as he peered at Teru. 

“Good.” Teru’s smile was sharp, Euphoric. Ryuzaki would be able to track them down, it had only been about six hours since that news report, it was the middle of the night now, they couldn’t get far. Light would be brought back, and by dawn tomorrow morning would be safe and warm in the Temple where he belonged. 

And as soon as the doors opened to the public, Teru would go and set up an appointment to be interviewed with the Temple Administration. He could pull some strings, he had helped several benefactors of the Temple get out of tight spots here and there, not to mention his help in getting reparations for those alphas that were being swindled by Hatori. And after he was deemed a proper candidate he would get to see Light, lean heavily on the Yagami family. Remind them how well he and Light got along, that they’ve been working in close proximity for years. 

He could be mated to Light before the turn of the season!

Everything was turning out better than planned. 

It was perfect. 

Just perfect. 

 

~~~

 

Light’s office, like his flat, was a testament to all the things he held dear. The walls were painted a warm honeyed mauve, not quite brown, not quite pink. The carpet, plush, clean, pristine cream. There were pictures of Light’s family on the walls, along side notable characters that Light had helped in some fashion through his stint as a lawyer. But much of the softness, the things that Light had that were solely for comfort weren’t there. No tacky, yet comfortable pillows, or gaudy drapes to soften the room. None of Light’s prized beta crafted sculptures or paintings. 

The office still very much screamed, Light! But it was a Light stripped bare. Nothing of the warmth that L knew was there. The image that Light showed to the public was harsh, cold. Showing only the parts of himself that Light thought could pass for an alpha and stomping what was left into the dirt. Always so careful to make sure no one saw the truth. 

Except for L. 

Light had let him in. 

...He wanted so much to ask Light why...

Someone had needed to come and search Light’s office, look through his files and his computer, his emails. No matter that L had already do so months ago...he had been working simply for himself then, no one beside Watari ever saw his personal reports. There needed to be an official record with the NPA now, and whoever else came around sniffing after this windfall of a case. 

L couldn’t stand to think of Light’s office torn to shreds. Like they had done to his flat. So he had agreed to be the one to come and ‘raid’ Light’s office.

There was a lot less raiding going on and a lot more of L just sitting in Light’s chair, running his fingers over the smooth keys of Light’s computer, fiddling with the array of expensive fountain pens Light liked to keep in a little gold stand on the edge of his. Even though L knew Light didn’t like using them. That he would reach for the cheap blue ballpoint he kept by the keyboard instead. 

So many of the things in Light’s life were just for show. 

He had expected to be able to sulk in peace. It was the whole reason he had left his hotel, and Light’s throw pillow, in the middle of the night. So that he could ‘search’ Light’s office at a time when he wouldn’t be bothered at all. 

He hadn’t taken Mikami and his utter lack of a personal life into account. L really should have checked before rushing in to make sure the office was empty. It was sloppy, careless, stupid. Mikami followed Light around the office like a lost puppy. Eager to do anything and everything that Light asked of him. Really L should have known that his obsession with Light would mean that Mikami spent his nights making silly folders of reports that Light would have known in their completion before he even stepped foot into the office. It was quite frankly insulting. 

L had to take a very large mental step back at that thought. 

Light wouldn’t be coming into the office in the morning. He wouldn’t be walking these halls ever again. 

L didn’t like the way Mikami’s bitter shock morphed into sacchariferous delight. The subtle hints of his scent, that weren’t caught by his scent blockers, became sour upon the realization that Light was an omega. 

L wanted nothing more than to scratch the offending glands from Mikami’s neck. He was a such a weaker alpha than L, he could do it in seconds. Whatever lascivious thoughts he was having about Light would stop. For good. 

He probably would have too if his phone hadn’t begun to vibrate in his pocket. If the message from Watari had said anything than what it did. Nothing could possibly make him leave the odious, pitiful, alpha that was Mikami behind. Nothing, except that one beautiful message. 

Sachiko Yagami had purchased two tickets to France set to leave in just under an hour.

L didn’t have time to stand around contemplating the satisfying death of a disgusting alpha. 

He had a plane to catch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Lovlies!!!
> 
> Gee I hope everyone was in the mood to hate Soichirou today. If not, I'm sorry for the change in your plans.   
> I honestly didn't know he was going to go so hard down that path, but well, there we go.   
> If this were a different story, one in which omegas were not treated so poorly and allowed to just grow up and live normal lives, Soichirou's desire to pamper an omega child would actually be rather sweet. I've been enjoying the image of him tucking a little omega Light preteen into bed among a mountain of pillows and toys and it's just been a incredibly fluffy scenario.   
> I'm actually sad it doesn't have a place in this story.   
> But Light definitely wouldn't want what Soichirous is proposing. And going all crazy with wanting to make his house a fortress is just not going to help AT ALL. 
> 
> I don't want to give too much away about what is coming, but I'm not sure Soichirou will get any sort of redemption here...I just don't want y'all to be waiting around for something isn't going to come... 
> 
> I learned a new word while writing this and am happy to share it all around.   
> Sacchariferous - to contain sugar. 
> 
> Shinzou just means heart and it's just something random I chose for Rem's surname. 
> 
> Sorry that I said that the last chapter would be the last one in which Light was referred to as she....It should be all out in the open now!
> 
> Sorry for the bit of a cliffhanger, I wanted to post what I had right now otherwise the chapter would have been a mess...I feel like it would have been anyway.
> 
> So I hope everyone is super excited about the next chapter and will happen!!!
> 
> I really can't thank you guys for your support!!! I'm just so happy that everyone likes this story and especially last chapter! I don't think I've ever received so many excited and lovely comments for a chapter, on any story, before. Thank you guys for your support! 
> 
> NEXT TIME!!!
> 
> L goes to the airport

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Please leave a comment and kudos, Let me know what you think!♡


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